There’s a shooting range at the West Ed?! I never knew this. They only advertise the dolphins and roller coaster. 
Road trip!
Yes, but I don’t think you’re allowed to shoot the dolphins while riding the roller coaster
Are you thinking of the license to own a long-gun? I just looked at the RCMP fact sheet on handgun licenses, and it seemed a little more onerous than you’re describing.
I have both my restricted and non restricted licenses. I had to take a course for both, but it wasn’t a big deal. Now there are a bunch of rules you have to follow when you own a gun. Essentially the governments option on handguns is that there are two reasons for the general public to own one, display collections (there are loads of rules on how to legally and properly display a gun. Way too much hassle for me), or for sport. So if you own a gun for sport it is to never be loaded at home, always locked up separate from the ammunition, yada yada yada. It is a process to own a restricted firearm, and way more responsibility than I am willing to take on.
Interesting. What led you to bother getting the restricted license in light of that?
Scandinavian guy chiming in. Over here all guns, long and short, are restricted, but you can get a license if you’re a member of a shooting club or hold a hunting license. A handgun license is a bit more of a hassle than a long gun license, but both types are fairly easy to get if you’re interested in target shooting.
I’ve got several hunting guns, both rifles and shotguns. These I fire quite regularly, both when hunting and when training.
I’ve fired various assault rifles and a machine gun as part of my military training as a draftee. Some of that was fun, but cleaning them was a real chore. Too many nooks and crannies collecting powder residue.
I’ve been offered and have accepted trying out other peoples’ handguns on the shooting range after engaging in some friendly chitchat about reloading, calibers and the merits of different types of guns. That was fun, but I don’t think I’ll go through the motions to qualify for a handgun license.
I will never be able to buy a handgun for self-defense, and I’ll probably never want to do that either.
When I worked with prop guns in the theatre we had to have someone on the crew with a gun license. I think only he was supposed to handle the gun, but in practice several of us ended up holding it at some point or another.
I do remember that once I was working on a show and one character had to carry a large gun in several scenes. It was kind of low-budget and the gun was plasticky and very obviously fake. In between two scenes the actor went out back to smoke a cigarette (big no-no), and took his gun with him (even bigger no-no). He had it leaning up against the bench he was sitting on, someone walked by, and I guess they called the police and reported it, because the next thing we knew several police cars showed up and the officers insisted on searching around backstage, questioning a bunch of people, and carefully inspecting the (clearly fake) prop gun. Intermission ended up lasting rather a long time that night.
Grew up on a farm, and hence have fired numerous types of longarms. Never fired a handgun, but my little brother just bought a six-shooter and I may have to give it a whirl. Not out at the farm, though. Nosirreebob! That would be breaking the rules, heaven forbid. Everyone knows that Saskatchewan farmers meticulously follow all firearm-related rules to the letter.
Just like everybody else who live in scarcely populated areas around the whole world, right?
When I shot one at the uni, I didn’t require any permit whatsoever. Mind that was years ago now.
But I wasn’t owning, transporting or acquiring a gun, just shooting one at an approved range, with licensed weapons and handlers.
(My husband once attended a hunter/fisherman fundraising dinner event, where the grand prize was a complete outfit. They all got drunk by the time of the big draw, of course. And didn’t the bugger win! When they all returned, drunken, to the bar where I was then working, they all came up and slurred the same story to me; He won! A canoe, oars, decoys, cooler, shotgun, waders, hat, slicker, yada, yada, yada. I was all, “Say what now? They gave the drunken hammerhead a shot gun? I believe I’ll stay somewhere else this evening!” But no, they didn’t give him the shotgun, as he had no permit. So one of his hunting & fishing buddies, took it for him. We were leaving for a several month holiday within a few weeks, so we sold the lot including the shot gun!)
Dane here, shot handguns for sport. Had an employer with a firing range (.22 only) in the basement, shot a bit in other clubs, even finagled an invite for the local police’s shooting club. It was - OK, I guess - but ultimately got boring before I decided to plunk down for my own weapon. (We’d fire club weapons - adjusting sights and grips was part of your first series.)
Improved my (military) rifle marksmanship in leaps and bounds, though.
Sorry Ludy - I hand’t noticed that you were the one with the license for the theatre. :smack:
It’s been a long time since I worked with the law in this area, and the following is not meant as legal advice, but the Firearms Act only allows the lending of firearms in limited circumstances:
The mayor wouldn’t come under (a) unless he had a restricted weapons permit himself, and wouldn’t come under (b) unless he was using it as a police officer, which he presumably was not authorised to do.
At least that’s my guess. If someone really needs to know the answer, they should consult a lawyer who knows something about this.
Getting back to the OP, I’ve fired a 22 rifle (hey, i grew up in small town Saskatchewan - who didn’t?). I’ve never fired a handgun, although I’ve handled one in a work-related situation (handgun was an exhibit in a trial I was involved with and I was legally authorised to do so).
When my parents moved into town they gave away the guns because it was too much hassle - they’d actually enforce it in the city. Poor classmate had to go to court because he left his hunting gear in his truck.
I probably shouldn’t tell the story of when we found a shell casing from a hunting rifle on the ground at the elementary school. Actually, there wasn’t really a story. Told the teacher, they took it away, no one ever spoke of it again.
Meh, it’s not that big a deal and the actors don’t need to have the licence. You just need to have someone who is officially in charge of the weapon. I had to be the “gun wrangler” for a show with realistic replicas that fired blanks. That meant getting an FAC. I don’t know what the current restrictions are right now though. It was over ten years ago.
Basically, I took it in its lock-box backstage, would ensure that it was properly loaded with the blanks, that it was never actually pointed at anyone directly (in case of malfunction a la Brandon Lee) and to make sure no one does anything stupid with it (a la Jon-Erik Hexum). I would hand it to the actor as they took it onstage and then take it back immediately after they came off again.
I did not have to do anything of the sort with the fake, but realistic looking wooden guns. Just the ones that fired blanks. Those can still hurt you.
The gun wranglers I’ve seen on film sets do pretty much the same thing.
I’ve fired a real, functioning handgun in Canada at a shooting range. Didn’t care for it actually, although I appreciate the skill required to hit a target well.
Brit here in the UK. I’ve never held a handgun nor seen one at close-quarters. I would say that this was entirely typical for a civilian in this country, other than for those dwindling few who’ve inherited one through the family.
I’ve held a handgun but not fired one. Ireland here.
I have never handled or fired a handgun or shotgun, though I once shot what I think was an AR-15 rifle on a rather bizarre field trip to a military base. I was 10, and thought it was very odd and I was a little scared that I was being allowed to do this.
I have no particular interest in learning to shoot any kind of gun, and have trouble imagining a life situation so crazy (relative to life now) that I would want to own my own.
Yep everything from a target .22 to a 44. At a range under supervision.
Have done most other things as well except an UZI.
No, I have never fired a handgun.
I have shot a compound bow.