*resolved* Our firearms too scary for Toronto Sportsman Show

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Good Day,

I recently found out about your refusal to accept Tactical Imports as a vendor at the upcoming TSS. As a sport shooter, hunter and avid outdoor enthusiast I am saddened to hear this as they are an excellent company with an outstanding reputation for bringing unique firearms to the Canadian market. I have attended the show in the past and have seen completely unrelated booths such as local news companies and products such as the Slap Chop, which have no interest to most sportsmen/women. By refusing a company such as this you are losing your target market base since sportsmen includes sports shooters as well as hunters. Dismissing and claiming that the company does not fit "optically" is, in my opinion not in the spirit of outdoor and sporting culture in Canada (Not to mention near sighted), and as such, I will not be attending your show this year, or any other year until you begin to accurately reflect your customer base again. In addition I will encourage the members of my gun club (###xx, the largest member base in Ontario) to boycott your show this year.

This attitude towards firearms is part of the reason that Canadian firearm owners face such difficulties in both the media and in the political spectrum. By virtue of omission, other non-firearm owners/enthusiasts view them as outside societal norms and this type of thinking will not change unless those who value it stand up for their sport.

Please stop promoting this agenda.
 
seth said:
Any responses fellas?
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It appears they have reversed their position. They are now permitting firearms as long as they are non-restricted.

"The Toronto Sportsmen’s Show is celebrating its 65th Anniversary this year. During this period we have provided a First Class venue to display and promote all facets of outdoor sport and activity. Our relationship with the gun manufacturers has been positive throughout the period and the relationship continues. Tactical Imports (must be a Firearms Licensed Business and meet the requirements of the Chief Firearms Office), will be permitted to display firearms at the 2012 Toronto Sportsmen’s Show, provided they are Chief Firearms Office, classified non-restricted, for sale in Canada."

We have inquired about restricted firearms and will await their response. We would imagine that restricted firearms would fall under the "all facets of outdoor sport".
 
Airtech77 said:
"I think your decision to ban tactical looking guns at your is ridiculous. The .223 caliber that the AR-15 uses is very well suited to hunting varmints and is wildly used for this purpose. There are a variety of guns in this calibre that used for just this purpose and the very popular 7.62x39 used in the AK-47 has ballistics very similar to the .30-.30 and is widely used to hunt deer. Why do you care what a gun looks like as opposed to what it be used for. What are you afraid of?"

Phone call sent.
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How did the phone call go? Or did you leave a message?

I sent an email to Mitch, very disappointed by this move. It is just bad for everyone in the firearm sporting community to see this kind of poor decision making and plain ignorance. Thank you TI for sharing this information with us.

Tyson
 
Tactical Imports said:
It appears they have reversed their position. They are now permitting firearms as long as they are non-restricted.

"The Toronto Sportsmen’s Show is celebrating its 65th Anniversary this year. During this period we have provided a First Class venue to display and promote all facets of outdoor sport and activity. Our relationship with the gun manufacturers has been positive throughout the period and the relationship continues. Tactical Imports (must be a Firearms Licensed Business and meet the requirements of the Chief Firearms Office), will be permitted to display firearms at the 2012 Toronto Sportsmen’s Show, provided they are Chief Firearms Office, classified non-restricted, for sale in Canada."

We have inquired about restricted firearms and will await their response. We would imagine that restricted firearms would fall under the "all facets of outdoor sport".
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well I am glad to hear that we helped :D Congrats
 
I don't think I will be attending, haven't gone in a few years.

Anyone that wants to set up a booth should be able too.
 
Good job guys. IMO, the show has went downhill ever since they stopped renting the arena area in the venue where they used to have the show. That was part of the fun of the show, watching the dog trials, atv's, birds of prey, etc. (I know they still do that, but that tiny area just isn't the same). Now the dog area is almost non existent, but don't worry, there are plenty of tshirt vendors to replace them. It will be nice to see the tac firearm industry represented there, too bad I won't be there to see it. Good luck with your sales vendors, and have a great time all those going to the show.
 
droid1963 said:
That's how it's done, folks. Good job to all who emailed.
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The CSSA had two restricted IPSC pistols in their booth last year.

With some additional emails it might be possible to convince them to allow restricted firearms to be shown by all exhibitors.

It's the Sportsman's Show. Last time I checked pistol shooting was a sport.
 
Good that they have reversed their position.

A few hundred emails in short succession threatening to boycott the show due to fearmongering got their heads screwed back on straight.

They may not be common hunting rifles, but they are sporting rifles none the less, and should not be treated differently.

Good on them for at least reversing their position, or I may not have been attending.

See you there Tac Imports.
 
Tactical Imports said:
It appears they have reversed their position. They are now permitting firearms as long as they are non-restricted.

"The Toronto Sportsmen’s Show is celebrating its 65th Anniversary this year. During this period we have provided a First Class venue to display and promote all facets of outdoor sport and activity. Our relationship with the gun manufacturers has been positive throughout the period and the relationship continues. Tactical Imports (must be a Firearms Licensed Business and meet the requirements of the Chief Firearms Office), will be permitted to display firearms at the 2012 Toronto Sportsmen’s Show, provided they are Chief Firearms Office, classified non-restricted, for sale in Canada."

We have inquired about restricted firearms and will await their response. We would imagine that restricted firearms would fall under the "all facets of outdoor sport".
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Sorry but, in my opinion, this is not good enough. If the non-restricted only policy is that of the organizers, I feel no manufacturers should attend. If it is Ontario CFO policy, then their attendance is okay but we CGNers should organize a mass protest.

A new venue still seems like a better idea.
 
I think these guys would be thrilled to have us all boycot the show... now theres no one around asking these kinds of questions, putting them on the spot.

I wonder what they would say to a camo R-15 or R-25 being featured at the remington booth? I bet they would probably allow that...
however if they were to prohibit that rifle from being displayed they'd probably wonder why they did after seeing a delictable collection of non restricted, sporting rifles on display at Tactical Import's booth, which would (hopefully) feature rifles such as the cz858, m-14, mini-14 , XCR, and the Swiss Arms Classic Black just to name a few.

Id be thrilled to come down to the show and see just such a display while happily highliting to the powers that be the now obvious idocy in segregating one "class" of firearm from another. Especially when there are endorcements and promotion coming directly from the manufacturer (ie Remington) to include the AR platform as a formidable sporting and hunting rifle.

Hmmm. is it possible that Remington is wrong about the purpose of this rifle and the Liberals who created our laws have been correct this entire time? Common sense will hopefully (however slowly), prevail. Progress is made one person at a time.

I'll be in attendance - Bring your best gear Tactical Imports!
 
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