Why indoor airgunning?

Note:

• By "airgunning", I mean the "under 500 FPS" kind of airgunning.
• By "indoor", I mean "under the roof where I live".

The short of it

In general:

• Cost-Effective
• No Regulatory Hurdles
• Lower Maintenance and Long-Term Reliability
• Safety
• Accessibility
• Interesting/Fun Consumer Choices

Why airgunning

• No PAL required
• I can walk into any store, or go online, to buy any airgun rated at under 500 fps without a Possession and Acquisition License.
• No firearms safety training course required
• Before acquiring a PAL, the would-be purchaser must complete the Canadian Firearms Safety Course and pass related exams.
• No shooting range required and no shooting club membership required
• i.e.: I can shoot indoors
• Comparatively inexpensive
• Broad selection of choices of rifles and handguns for any budget
• Inexpensive ammo

Why indoor

• No commute required
• I do not have to hop in the car and drive to a place meant for shooting.
• Great for "on-a-whim" shooting sessions (which might be as little as half-a-dozen shots).
• No by-law constraints
• Bylaws do not allow discharging of airguns within city limits, indoor discharging of airguns being the exception
• No worries about mosquitoes (or black flies, etc.) or the weather.
• Comparatively inexpensive.

The long of it: my testimony

Backgrounder

I had a break-barrel pellet gun when I was a kid, and I loved going out for shooting sessions at a gravel pit in the woods, behind my house, on the other side of the railroad tracks.  Simple times, simple fun shooting pop cans to shreds.

Later, in my teens and to my chagrin, I would discover that I found no joy in hunting.  I did not inherit both my dad's and my maternal grandfather's love of the sport.  Two partridge hunt outings, and all of two partridge kills, convinced me to give up on hunting.  (Admittedly: those partridges were among the tastiest meals I've ever had, and I really enjoyed shooting our old .410 shotgun.

The only other shooting I've ever done happened in BASIC Training, just one time during a short stint with the military.  We had an opportunity to be tested on the shooting range: a total of eleven rounds fired at the targets with our FN C1's (a 7.62mm battle rifle, the Canadian version of the FN FAL).  Man, I loved that rifle and I miss it something silly.  Although I would not pass BASIC Training, I did place first in my platoon on that shooting test, which felt pretty good.

That is the extent of my shooting history.  Not much to it, but oh how I love shooting (well, at non-living targets.)

The unbearable itch

About ten years ago, I saw a dual-ammo variable-pump airgun (a Crosman M4-177 BB/Pellet Rifle) on sale in a Canadian Tire flyer, and that gave me an instant itch to do some plinking.

I immediately raced to my local store, picked up the airgun and some pellets, and raced right back home to unbox my new toy.

As I admired this fun-looking air rifle, it dawned on me: where am I going to shoot this thing?

Sure enough, nowhere within my city limits.  The by-law at the time (extract of only the pertinent rules/regulations):

BY-LAW NO. S-5: A BY-LAW RESPECTING FIREWORKS, SPRING GUNS AND AIR RIFLES

• 2.02 No person shall within the City discharge any spring gun or air rifle except while engaged in target practice carried on exclusively within a building. 

• 2.03 No person shall have or keep in his possession within the City any spring gun or air rifle without registering the same with and obtaining a permit therefore from the Chief of Police. 

NOTE: Both of these rules/regulations have since been repealed by Fredericton's city council.  Info on that later.

RATS !

"Okay, where do I go outside the city limits that won't have somebody calling the cops on me, some strange guy seen with a firearm under a bridge by the highway."

So I called the city police for their suggestions about a good place outside the city limits which would arouse suspicions by concerned citizens.  Nope.

I would not get to scratch the itch that early fall, and would not get to scratch it until the following summer.

Itch scratched, but then it came back

The following summer, on a vacation with my kiddo to visit family, I brought the M4-177 along.  While visiting with my dad, we took out the rifle and had some plinking fun for half an hour or so.  That's all it took to satisfy that itch.

A year goes by, and don't I get that itch again?  And I'm thinking: there's got to be some way for me to scratch that itch without having to drive out of town.  And then I discovered an inexpensive airsoft gun "kit" (rifle and pistol) on sale at Canadian Tire, and I think: maybe that would do for some shooting in my garage.

That was okay, but not satisfying.  The rifle and pistol do not have any accuracy when shooting at paper targets.  Obviously, the act of shooting, in and of itself, is not enough.

A year later, I discovered better quality (more expensive and very realistic) "sniper" airsoft rifles.  Liking the idea of a bolt-action spring-powered airsoft gun, I bought myself an ASG M40A3 from an online store.  I really love the feel of the bolt, and the weight of it all.

Although shooting the ASG M40A3 gives me the same satisfaction I had shooting the FN C1 a long time ago, it does not, strangely, give me the same satisfaction I had shooting my break-barrel rifle of my youth.

If the ASG M40A3 felt like the "caviar" solution for that kind of shooting itch, I was still in need of a "ginger-ale" solution for this other kind of shooting itch.

Occasional shooting itch, to constant collector itch

About a year ago, I picked up, at my local Princess Auto store, both an Umarex Marlin .177 BB (spring) air rifle and an Umarex DSX45  BB (spring) air pistol.

These two give me the same satisfaction as shooting with my break-barrel rifle of my childhood (well, the Marlin gives me that old-feel satisfaction, and the DSX45, although I do not enjoy that as much, does scratch a kind of itch I never had before).

And just when I think all of my itch possibilities are covered, I now found myself wanting to collect more steel BB and airsoft rifles (no desire, yet, for more pistols), so that I have a variety of airguns to satisfy every kind of itch/mood that creeps up on me.

And the Blog's Stage is Set

The scope of this blog will include posts about:

• "mindful" indoor airgunning
• being mindful about safety
• being mindful in the sense of "mindfulness"
• i.e. "the psychological process of purposely bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment (so: fully scratching that itch !)
• gear
• reviews of whatever gear I have and use
• reviews, video or written, that I've found useful
• resources
• anything useful I can find on the web

Oh Yeah, Update to That City By-Law

Repealed: All Regulations for Spring Guns and Air Rifles

Relevant excerpt from a by-law passed by the city of Fredericton on May 23, 2023:

BY-LAW NO. S-20: A BY-LAW RESPECTING FIRE PREVENTION

• 17.3  By-law No. S-5, A By-law Respecting Fireworks, Spring Guns and Air Rifles, and amendments thereto, given third reading on August 22, 2005, is hereby repealed.

Whatever regulations in by-law S-5 that were related to fireworks, those regulations were absorbed into the new S-20 by-law.

However, any regulations in by-law S-5 that were related to spring guns and air rifles, those regulations were dropped entirely.  As of May 23, 2023: "If an offence is committed utilizing a spring gun and/or air rifle, the appropriate Criminal Code of Canada offence is investigated, and charges laid appropriately."

Although one may think that one can now discharge an air gun within the city limits, do not do it!

Better to Pretend The Regulations Still Exist

First a concerned citizen could report "a strange individual with a rifle in the area" to the local police force.  So a desire to just do some backyard plinking could easily escalate into something deadly serious as police officers do not know the reality of the situation.  All they know is: there is an individual with what looks like a firearm.

If you are fortunate enough to not get shot, you are likely to face some kind of penalty, if not something from the criminal code.  For example, you could get a fine under By-Law No. S-17 if you are considered to have disturbed the peace or created a nuisance in your neighborhood.

References

• What are the benefits of air guns over firearms?
• Fredericton's BY-LAW NO. S-5
• A BY-LAW RESPECTING FIREWORKS, SPRING GUNS AND AIR RIFLES
• Repealed on May 23, 2024
• Fredericton's BY-LAW NO. S-20
• A BY-LAW RESPECTING FIRE PREVENTION
• Related: Meeting minutes April 4, 2023
• Fredericton's BY-LAW NO. S-17
• A BY-LAW RESPECTING DISTURBANCE BY NOISE