Read the RCMP's statement "Very, Very " carefully
This was written in the newspaper Sherwood Park News:
Despite being met with some resistance, Strathcona County council passed an update to the Firearm Control Bylaw on Tuesday, July 8.
The changes to the bylaw include the addition of crossbows as well as bows and arrows to the list of weapons whose use are prohibited inside a dedicated special control area, as well as the county’s eight rural hamlets, except on land owned or rented by the user, or by guests whose use of firearms is authorized by the owner or renter.
The conditions must also include bird hunting to protect crops or big game hunting, along with the valid relevant licences.
Fines for violating the bylaw have jumped more than $100 and now range from $250 to $350 and are doubled with subsequent offences within one year.
Only councillors Paul Smith and Brian Botterill did not vote in favour of the updated bylaw.
“With all the problems we’re experiencing farther east in the county, I was going to propose that we needed to expand the special control area, from Highway 16 to Highway 14, out to the east boundary of the county,” Smith said, referencing the increase of complaints about shots being fired, as well as the infill in the acreage areas.
Ian Gray, director of Transportation and Agricultural Services, said that gun-related complaints are up significantly.
“Drawing a line and saying we’re going to capture all of them is a difficult one,” he said.
Gray also noted that a number of municipalities are getting rid of their no-shooting bylaws, due to federal laws already in place with the Criminal Code of Canada and the Canada Wildlife Act.
“Bullets have come close to people living in their homes, so that’s the dilemma that council has — to find that happy medium… these complaints are all over the map,” said RCMP superintendent Gary Steinke.
“(Shooting) is occurring year-round, which is very concerning that people are shooting all months of the year.”
Botterill said he believed it was an area where council would be superseding criminal law.
“There is no reason for us to supersede criminal law — those tools are a lot stronger than any municipal tool we are able to use,” he said.
“This is another situation where if you move to rural areas, expect rural things. Firearms are a rural thing — that is the fact of the matter. The RCMP will treat these scenarios on a case-by-case basis. If there is a danger, the RCMP will work to prosecute.”
The gun bylaw was originally created in 2003, with revisions in 2007. Council more recently approved first and second readings of the updated bylaw in April, which returned to council to receive a third and final reading due to the requirement that the bylaw must obtain approval from the ministry of Environmental and Sustainable Resource Development.
|