At Canadian Tire Yellowknife, the city’s sole supplier of both firearms and ammunition, the shelves are stocked and locked with product – but nothing can be sold.
“Due to processing of our firearms licence, we are not able to sell firearms and ammunition at this time,” read several signs affixed the store’s gun and ammunition rack.
Signs affixed to Canadian Tire Yellowknife's firearms and ammunition rack inform customers they won't be able to purchase guns or ammo at the Old Airport Road location - for the time being.
March 1, 2018.
The standstill, according to the store's office manager – who asked not to be named – at the Old Airport Road location, is the result of a recent change in ownership.
A new owner, who didn't hold a firearms licence, recently took over the retail store, meaning that before the store can legally sell firearms and ammunition, they are required to obtain a firearms and ammunition licence.
The officer manager told Yellowknifer all the paperwork has been filed and the owner is simply waiting to receive the licence.
Yellowknifer asked to speak to the new owner Tuesday but the office manager said he didn't want to comment. She refused to provide his name.
In Canada, the licensing of firearms is overseen by the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program.
A licence is an individual's “authorization to possess and register a firearm and to obtain ammunition,” according to the RCMP’s online guidelines.
Until the new owner receives the proper licensing, gun owners, hunters and those running low on ammunition, will be out of luck at the Yellowknife retail location.
That’s been the case for around two weeks, an employee told Yellowknifer last week.
A store employee said he couldn’t put a firm timeline on when customers will be able to buy firearms and ammunition from the Canadian Tire, but another clerk said Monday, “maybe next week.”
With the temporary shuttering of Canadian Tire’s gun and ammunition section, the only other locations in the city to purchase ammunition are Walmart and Weaver and Devore. Canadian Tire Yellowknife is the only retail location that sells both ammunition and firearms.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Barry Taylor, chief range officer at the Yellowknife Shooting Club. “(Canadian Tire Yellowknife) sell a lot of firearms and ammo.”
“It’s the only go-to spot virtually in NWT. People are coming from communities to buy ammunition,” he said.
The lack of access to guns and ammunition doesn’t present a huge problem for hunters, said Taylor, as most hunting occurs in the fall and winter.
But the backlog could present issues if it isn’t remedied in the coming months, he said.
“It’s a problem they’re going to have to get out of in the next month or so, very quickly, because once summertime comes, like with the gun club and stuff, we’ve got 600 members and the gun range can be quite busy once the snow goes,” said Taylor.
He said he hasn’t heard any complaints about the current lack of accessibility to guns and ammunition in the city, but added a lot of gun owners he knows “keep a good stock of ammo.”
Taylor said the process of new Canadian Tire ownership acquiring a firearms and ammunition licence could be easy, but it’s not.
“This could be a two-day procedure if there was efficiency … (but) the government always has to drag its butt,” said Taylor.