Expert says gun owners are responsible for safety of their own firearms

Pratik Bhattarai,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A former assistant gun range safety officer says the onus is always on the gun owner to ensure safe storage and handling.

Ian Barclay, who retired as a Master Corporal after 15 years’ service in Canadian Army, says following the law around firearm safety is important to avoid accidents and unintended firearm injuries or even deaths.

“It is absolutely necessary. It’s the backbone of anything to do in handling firearms,” Mr Barclay said.

The Mount Albion resident was in the signals/communications department in the army. He also ran safety drills in the range and was a trainer for his section that did firearm training and safety handling for rifles, before retiring in 2022.

He said the most common mistake people make is failing to store guns properly, forgetting to unload the firearms before storing them, which leads to accidents.

“In my case I keep mine in a secure purpose built safe and the ammunition is locked up separately with a separate lock and a separate key for it,” he said.

According to a study published by Injury Epidemiology in 2023, there were 74 unintentional deaths and almost 3,000 accidental injuries in Canada caused by firearms between 2016-2020.

Mr Barclay said people who have children should be even more cautious while handling firearms. Proper fire safety drills, following the right safety practices and instilling a healthy culture around guns can prevent unwanted accidents.

He said Canadian law around gun safety is quite robust, so if people follow it properly then they should be safe.

Adding responsibility and accountability falls under the owner of the firearm in case there is some accident because the gun safety protocol was not followed properly.

“If something goes wrong, and a person is hurt because you’re not doing that, I think you have failed in your safe duties,” he said.

He also commented on a recent school shooting incident in the State of Georgia where a 14-year-old allegedly killed two people, injuring many. The minor’s father was also indicted in the case because of his negligence.

He agrees with charging parents if their kids cause harm to others or themselves with their parents’ firearms.

“Yeah, I think that’s the right thing to do. I don’t know how else to dissuade people,” he added.

Pratik Bhattarai,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Eastern Graphic