Woodside not part of FV no shooting zone

[the other martin]

The Mayor of Agassiz is John Van Laerhoven.

His email is jvanlaerhoven@districtkent.bc.ca

I have sent him an email but didn't receive a response.

If you feel there is a dangerous use of a firearm and the potential of someone taking a bullet then phone the RCMP in Agassiz. They will respond. Their non emergency phone number is 604 -796 -2211. They will only get miffed if it is the same individual phoning continually and the complaint is frivolous. Meaning it is everyone's responsibility to take action and not to rely on one person to do the phoning.

[skydawg]

Its funny that you label those people as gun nuts. They are just another user group of the outdoors. Yes some are not as respectful as other but just because you fit into the flying group doesn't make you any different. There are respectful shooters that exist as well. You guys b**** about about being labeled when some guy wraps his wing around a powerline but that doesnt represent the whole group now does it.

[Martin]

True, we do like to label.... a thoughtful perspective might be in order?

The type of shooting we are talking about is not about hunting, its not about somebody who likes guns and simply wants to practice putting a few rounds into a target. Seriously... there have been days when its not just a few rounds, it hundreds of rounds, large caliber, fully auto stuff.... not target practice and in the opinion of many, not legal.

This is all about the careless and dangerous use of fire arms. It's all about a real public risk generated by what is becoming an obviously increasing use of public lands by these gun users. This "User Group" has taken no initiative to create a safe environment, post warnings, secure a use area and worse, appear not interested in the safety of other users of the mountain. I invite anyone who doubts the risk to go for a walk in the cut block directly behind launch and check out some of the favorite target spots, several are outstandingly stupid with no effort made to control rounds from leaving the target area.

The real big deal here is the Province took steps to create "No-Shooting Zones" (in response to the risks created by these gun users) but did not take into account the effect of the changes shifting the users onto other public lands with equal or greater risk to the public.

The gun owners/users need to get their act together and stop acting like idiots. They need to start working with Forestry (special use permit), RCMP (safety assessment), District of Kent and other users of area, to establish a safe area to practice their craft. Until then, they get labeled... "Gun Nuts"..... or worse....

Martin

[pep]

Thank you Martin for these emails, I just sent email to them requesting the inclusion of the Mount woodside area in to the No shooting zone.

I hope every one and their friends do the same.

[pep]

With all this issue of shooting at Woodisde I got in contact with Louise Hinton, she is the Bylaw Enforcement Officer / Licence Inspector for the District of Kent and requested what where the byLaws regarding firing of guns in the District and she sent me the following response and attached document:

"
Good Morning Mr. Pedersen,

Currently as you know all Firearms use in British Columbia is restricted by regulations under the Wildlife Act (B.C.) which prohibit both hunting and shooting anywhere in the Province within 100 meters of a church, school, school yard, playground, dwelling house, or a farm or ranch building that is occupied by person or domestic animals, plus of course the implementation of the "no shooting zones" as you mentioned below. The District of Kent does also further restrict the discharge of firearms within the District of Kent municipal boundaries as provided for in the District of Kent Firearms Restriction and Prohibition By-law No. 820, 1983. I have attached a copy of the Districts Firearms bylaw for your reference, however it is quite difficult to enforce if the discharge of the firearms is being conducted in accordance with the Provincial regulations. There is crown owned land on Mount Woodside across the other side of Lougheed Highway from the highlands residential development; and the District’s boundary ends at the Kilby bridge that it just down the mountain going west a few minutes. Hunting and shooting is permitted on these lands, that are outside District boundaries, if it is done in accordance with the Act. If you could provide me with possible direction/location of where some the gunfire may be coming from, I may be able to address it. Otherwise if you suspect a violation of the Wildlife Act in the areas that I mentioned above you are welcome to forward those concerns to Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resources at FrontCounter BC toll free at: 1-877-855-3222.


Thanks,
Louise Hinton
Bylaw Enforcement Officer / Licence Inspector
District of Kent
lhinton@district.kent.bc.ca
604-796-2235
604-796-9854 Fax

Note, the ByLaw she sent me is attached.

820 Firearms Restriction.pdf

(144.4 KiB) Downloaded 105 times

[Martin]

Well, lets hope that somebody does not get a bullet in the head while the bureaucracy points fingers?

Maybe we should look at getting the CBC interested in story on the "No Shooting Zones" and how they have created public risk?

Interesting comments are coming from within the gun community:

http://calibremag.ca/bc-introduces-crow ... ing-areas/


Martin

[Suntan]

I thought RCMP had to respond to all calls based on a triage system.

[Martin]

If anybody thinks this is not a concern for the flying site.....

Bullet.jpg

(1.04 MiB) Not downloaded yet

Found in the loft at FlyBC, obvious trajectory is off the mountain, low bullet damage suggest low velocity, meaning the bullet was fired from a substantial distance away, same for the impact angle, suggests the round came from the mountain.

Martin

[Nikolai]

Just sent this off to the District, along with a pic:

To Whom It May Concern,

Yesterday ( a holiday Saturday) was the first time I had been paragliding at Woodside in a couple of years. I was shocked to hear shots ringing out throughout the hour or so I was there in mid-afternoon, and again when I drove up to launch in early evening. Why is this allowed? Woodside has been used for decades by paragliders and hang gliders and there are often many people (including tourists) at launch and in the air. (Please see the attached photo taken yesterday.) One of these days someone will get hit and the District will take a massive public relations and liability hit, in view of the fact you have been warned by multiple sources.

XDSC10061.JPG (229.18 KiB) Viewed 2087 times

[Nikolai]

Just got this reply!

Woodside firearms.jpg (215.32 KiB) Viewed 2069 times

[the other martin]

I received the same email. I replied saying I can't speak on behalf of WCSC however am willing to assist by going out with the District of Kent personnel. I can show them the locations were the shooters congregate. It should help with signage. I was going to suggest they 'pre-shoot' the signs but that would be too flippant.

[Bruce]

Give their plate numbers to the RCMP. Careless rude shooters are likely also to be careless at firearms transportation and storage and I think under the Act mouties can inspect a place of storage or a vehicle without warrant. More interesting and "policey" than handing out speeding tickets on the Loughheed.

[kault]

Saturday, June 17th. AXL, Craig and I hiked up WS arriving at the launch at about 12:30. Several other pilots on launch.
Shortly after our arrival, two RCMP members show up with their brand new ATV, very friendly and engaging with us. They are out on "patrol" which to clarify, means looking for shooters. All good. We are happy to chat with them. They hung out with us on launch for at least half an hour.
I set up, launch and within a half hour there is a truck set up in the new clearcut just behind launch with shooters just blasting away for the duration of my 90 minute flight. The cops had said to call if we observed this activity. I didn't feel like trying to make a call from the air. I should have used my radio to get someone to call from launch but was too busy focussing on the flying.

Did anyone have the wherewithal to report these people on Saturday afternoon? How ironic that the cops must have just left before the shooting started. It was a silver late model truck with some real big, loud firepower.

Now that we know this activity is prohibited on WS, lets all make a mental note to get the word out to the Agassiz RCMP as soon as we hear shots. They said they would respond.

Let's get a sign up at the turnoff to that clearcut right near our "driveway" Perhaps they will just turn around.

[the other martin]

The phone number KVA posted is for Agassiz RCMP. If no one is in the office you get a message stating the obvious. On two previous occasions, when I received the message, I phoned 911 instead and explained the situation. That works as well. The 911 operator wasn't pissed that I used the emergency number. If we don't call the police it just encourages the bastards to shoot up the place.

[Claudia]

Agree with kault, it would be good to get official (or official looking) signage about the new by-law.
I didn't notice any signs and the people using the guns may not have been aware of it. From my point of view their setup looked reasonably safe in front of an uphill slope.