The new regulations have not only impacted access to the guns used for IPSC competition, and is threatening the viability of facilities used for training and equipment maintenance for elite sports shooters in general, but experts say the regulations have also had unintended implications for Olympic pistol sports athletes.

Mahoney is among the chorus of sports shooters calling for more flexibility in current regulations and a broadening of who benefits from exemptions to the rules.

“They’re tools for a sport that I love,” she said of the handguns she uses for practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting. “Once people are not able to replace their handguns, then they’re not able to compete and then the sport dies.”

The problem is, IPSC, the discipline she loves, isn’t formally recognized by the Canadian government because it isn’t an Olympic discipline, a necessary criteria set out by the government to be granted the exemptions needed to purchase the handguns Mahoney uses in domestic and international contests. 

“The exemption is better than nothing,” Mahoney said.

In 2020, handguns were used in roughly half of all violent crimes involving a firearm in Canada, according to Public Safety Canada officials.

“You cannot be serious about being tough on crime if you’re not willing to be tough on guns,” Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree has said about the initiative. “This program is part of that solution.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney has defended the buyback program as “fulfilling a campaign promise” and “taking guns off the street in a voluntary fashion.”

Mahoney said lawful gun owners are feeling the squeeze.

“They’re not taking guns from criminals, they’re not taking guns off the street, they are taking guns that are locked in people’s safes,” she said. 

Gun control reforms have had unintended consequences including dampening the recruitment of fresh blood to the sport, a threat to the viability of ranges used for training and restricted access to importers and parts, said Sandra Honour, chair of the board for the Shooting Federation of Canada (SFC), a national governing body for shooting sports athletes, including individuals training for or competing in Olympic/Paralympic pistol events.

She has petitioned the government for broader flexibility for which shooting sport disciplines are granted exemptions, which she said is necessary for the sustainability of Olympic sport shooting disciplines and the viability of the ecosystem relied on by sports shooters.

Canadians participating across a calendar of Olympic pistol events use the exemptions to acquire new pistols for competition or to sell a used pistol to someone within the discipline. Honour said the pool of importers and suppliers is dwindling and “our athletes can’t access even the Olympic firearms.” 

“We’ve made it difficult for our athletes to stay competitive,” she added.

She said the rigid exemptions granted to Olympic pistol disciplines falls short.

“The bill is just simply proposing a slower strangulation of our (Olympic shooting) sport than the death of other pistol shooting sports in Canada,” she said during a presentation to the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs in 2023. 

Honour told the Star that one area of contention for the government seems to be the model and style of handguns used by IPSC athletes versus their Olympic counterparts.

“The Olympic disciplines only allow a smaller calibre and rimfire,” she said of the pistols specially designed for Olympic sports, which use .22 calibre firearms which are less powerful than centrefire rounds and handguns used by IPSC athletes.

“It then allows them to ensure that whatever handgun is brought into the country stays in the Olympic sports,” she said.

She said even though IPSC isn’t an Olympic discipline, “it doesn’t mean that they’re not world class athletes. They definitely have all the safety regulations.”

The sport of Olympic pistol shooting has roughly 1,000 people competing at various levels across Canada, with an elite few earning a national team slot, which places them in contention for an Olympic qualification.

Kim Britton, an Olympic pistol competitor, who’s currently on the national team, said the handgun freeze has created barriers to her bid to bring a new competition pistol into the country. The Calgary resident said regulatory red tape and unclear procedures are impeding importers ability to bring into Canada the specialty pistol she needs for elite global competitions. Even with an exemption in hand, Britton has tried without luck for the last few years to import an elite pistol from Germany. She said Olympic competitors have resorted to primarily using the exemption to transfer used pistols from other people within the discipline. 

“It has been extremely challenging,” said Britton, who works as a professional accountant. “Dealers aren’t allowed to hold stock anymore, so every gun has to be brought in for a specific person that has been pre-vetted for exemptions.” 

Britton echoed Honour’s sentiments that “the exemption piece is a little bit overkill. I really think it’s going to hamper getting new people into the sport.” 

Under the freeze on handguns, individuals can keep their existing firearms, but acquiring new ones or transferring them to others is prohibited unless they qualify for an exemption, public safety Canada officials said. 

Those who can qualify for exemptions include individuals who hold an Authorization to Carry (ATC) for protection of life or for a lawful profession such as valuable goods carriers. It also covers individuals who train, compete, or coach in a handgun discipline under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

“Disciplines outside the IOC/IPC program are not covered by this exemption,” said Noémie Allard, a spokesperson with Public Safety Canada said. 

Allard points out that in 2020, handguns were used in approximately half of all violent crimes involving a firearm in Canada.

“Evidence from industrialized countries around the world shows that where there are more guns, there are more gun deaths, injuries, and crimes,” Allard said.

IPSC officials have unsuccessfully lobbied the federal government to provide carve-outs for its members, said James Smith, a national range officer co-ordinator with IPSC, who also met with the senate committee.

“The only way our sport would be able to continue and thrive is to have that exemption,” Smith told the Star.

In his pitch, Smith proposed a suite of guardrails to regulate new IPSC members, such as graduated systems that would see applicants undergo staged licensing before they could be considered for any exemption. He said the exemption would be revoked if the member stopped competing or was in bad standing with IPSC.

In that presentation, Smith noted that places like Australia, New Zealand, parts of the United Kingdom like Northern Ireland, Switzerland and Europe (particularly Germany, Italy and France) in general, allow exemptions in some form for IPSC athletes to purchase, possess and use handguns for the purpose of competing.

Australia has a staged licensing procedure with provisional training periods before full licenses are granted to IPSC athletes, while New Zealand added new gun control provisions that allow IPSC athletes to own handguns for the purpose of training and competing, he said.

“There’s all kinds of legislative ways to control this without getting into a complete ban,” Smith said.

In the spring, Mahoney and a contingent of Canadian competitors, were tripped up by the government’s decision to add semi-automatic pistol-caliber carbines (PCC) to the growing list of banned assault-style rifles, mere months before the IPSC PCC and Mini Rifle World Shoot in Czech Republic.

It left the Canadian contingent scrambling for solutions, with some competitors like Mahoney opting to rent guns on arrival in the host country. Only 18 of the 33-member team was able to attend, according to IPSC officials.

“We’re trying to compete with a PCC that we’ve never actually used before,” Mahoney said. “We lost any competitive advantage.”

The 57-year-old, who picked up shooting about a decade ago, after a successful career in insurance and risk management, is the reigning national (overall lady) champion in her handgun division.

“It would be nice for the average person to know about this,” Mahoney said. “Maybe, more women would want to join.”

Mahoney’s methodical practice session, at Sharon Gun Club, near Newmarket, is done to mimic match settings and keep her sharp for competition.

“You’re moving and engaging paper targets and moving targets,” she said. “It’s all about accuracy, power and speed.”

There’s only so many rounds of ammunition Mahoney can discharge from her two competitive handguns before wear and tear sets in.

The freeze on acquiring a new handgun in Canada becomes a logistical hurdle because “whenever we travel (overseas) we’re always worried about our guns getting lost, because if we lose our handguns, I can’t buy a new one,” she said  “It seems so unfair.”

She can only use the handguns currently in her collection and cannot purchase or transfer any new firearms to replenish the worn-out tool kit.

“A lot of people are reluctant to get into the sport,” she said.

Mahoney is currently the No. 1 ranked woman in Canada in the IPSC production category, a spot she also held in 2022 and 2023.

She’s also placed third in the senior lady production division in the International IPSC Handgun World Shoot, held in September in Matlosana, South Africa.

She competes with a basic model CZ Shadow 2 (9 mm) pistol in the production division, “which is basically, using a handgun out of the box,” she said, adding, “there’s nothing fancy on it. You don’t do anything to make it better.”

In other divisions, like the open category, competitors have leeway to modify the firearm with upgrades like optic scopes to “play around with it and make it a Ferrari versus a Honda.”

Mahoney said handgun restrictions and a growing list of banned competition guns like PCC’s is stifling recruitment because of the “uncertainty of joining then having your guns banned.”

Despite the government clampdown Mahoney said “as long as I’m physically fit, I’m going to be doing this,” before conceding “as long as the government allows me to, then I will keep doing it.”

With files from Mark Ramzy