Thoughts from behind the badge

By 

John A. Gayder

This article was published during 1999-2000 in Canadian editions of Safari Times under a column called 
"Jag: thoughts from behind the badge".

It is a great honour to have an opportunity to write for Safari Times. I look forward to relating my personal and professional views and experiences with firearms, and the laws that govern them.  Many of you will be surprised to hear from a police officer that is pro gun.  In order to better understand where I’m coming from on the gun control issue, I think a bit of background information is in order.

I grew up in a home that was full of love, patience and kindness.  It was also full of firearms.  At one time, I estimate there were approximately two hundred firearms of all types in our collection. My parents had instilled in me a desire for inquiry and discussion about history, technology and politics.  The many firearms in our home provided a real life nexus for all three of these themes.  Taking a pistol made in Poland (a Radom vs35) which had German markings on it down from the wall on which it had been openly displayed for 25 years without incident (in order for it to be put in federally mandated “safe storage”) is an example of what I mean.

My late father was a police officer by profession but his strongest passion was for hunting and fishing.  He was an outdoorsman par excellence.  In addition to teaching all of his kids how to shoot safely, he imbued a lifelong interest in firearms (my Sister still proudly enjoys owning and shooting trap and skeet with Dad’s Citori).  Hunt stories as well as actions and calibers were the topic of many dinnertime discussions.  He once settled a bet between my brother and I by proving that a .43 Mauser would indeed shoot clean through an old, three foot wide cherry stump at the back of our rural property.

Skunks and other varmints often played havoc amongst the gardens and lawns of our area.  A rabid fox once menaced me on my way to visit a neighbor.  A similar fox kept another neighbor trapped in his home on Christmas day.  These animals were all controlled by the careful employment of the appropriate firearms from our collection.

As much as Dad’s devotion to the outdoors provided me with exposure to the many positive aspects of firearms, his job as a police officer gave occasional hints to the darker uses to which they were put.  I clearly remember waking up one morning to find my father gone and his favorite pre-’64 Winchester in 30-30 missing from its rack in our living room.  Upon asking my mom about this she told me dad had been called out late that night to a call involving an armed criminal who had barricaded himself in an apartment.   (These were the days before the genesis of “SWAT” type teams.)

Another time, while visiting dad at the police station, he showed me the lockup where all the confiscated and recovered firearms were kept.  In it, I saw what at one time had been a fantastic Weatherby Mark V that had been used in a robbery.  Some brute had cut the butstock off at the wrist and shortened the barrel down to the forend with a hacksaw.  My immediate thought was who would do such a thing to so fine an instrument? Other atrocities were shown: initials carved in stocks, sights removed, rust, etc.  Clearly, the people from who these firearms were captured were not enthusiasts like my father and his hunting partners.  These people who had used and abused these guns were different –and not in a nicey nice, everyone-has a different-point-of-view, diversified sort of way.

This early, clear distinction between good gun owners and bad ones would later have a huge bearing on my personal and professional outlook towards firearms.    

Later, my father’s long and distinguished career would end in scandal and the 11 million-dollar Colter Inquiry, caused partially by the fear and ignorance of firearms, which prevailed at the time. (Note: The public inquiry was named after Justice W.E. Colter, who oversaw it with fairness and in great detail.  He was NOT the person who instigated it.)  Sadly, these irrational and distorted fears and prejudices about firearms still exist, and have adversely affected the course of legislation governing their use and possession.  In future articles I will endeavor to expose and dispel the many myths and legends pertaining to firearms which continue to affect rational debate about their role in society.

Biography of the author and disclaimer: (See attached Curriculum Vitae for additional info)

The author has been a Constable for eight years with the Niagara Parks Police in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The views expressed in this article may or may not represent the official position of his employer.

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