OCTOBER 25, 2015 - ATLANTIC HIGHPOWER (FULLBORE) COMMITTEE MEETING

Wendy Reid, who took minutes for this meeting, sends the following link 2015 ATLANTIC HIGHPOWER (FULLBORE) MINUTES

Please Note: 
The Team Composition and selection of each province's team members for the 2016 InterMaritime Match and the British Team Match will change substantially. Here is an excerpt from the minutes:

Inter-Maritime Match and British Team Match Changes: 
 The team composition will change to 4 TR shooters and 4 F-TR shooters from 5 and 3 respectively. 
 Since PEI will have difficulty fielding an 8 person team, the other provinces agreed to share some of their shooters to ensure all three provinces would have enough team members and have 3 competitive teams. 
 Since PEI has difficulty getting enough range time prior to these matches, the matches will be scheduled later in June than traditionally shot. 
 These changes will be a trial situation and will be re-assessed at this meeting next year.

The following conditions and procedures will be followed in doing so:  
1. Each Province with ample shooters will (“protect”) designate 2 TR & 2 F-TR shooters to shoot on their team. 
2. The other shooters from the province (based on their own selection match/method) will be put into a ”pool” and their names will be drawn to represent one of the 3 provinces. 
3. The Fullbore Chairman from each province will coordinate the pools and draws 2 weeks prior to the event and shooters will be notified. 
4. The  teams arranged in this manner will shoot in both the Inter-Maritime match and the British Team match. 

So, for us in New Brunswick, we would have our annual InterMaritime/British Team Match trials and the top 2 TR and F-TR shooters would form the "core" of our New Brunswick Team. 
All other shooters who want to compete in these matches would enter a "pool" of available shooters which would include shooters from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and possibly a few from PEI. From this pool, each province would draw shooters in sequence to round out their 8 person teams. 
So, New Brunswick would have a "core" of our own shooters and could have shooters from both NS and PEI on our team. Likewise, both the teams from NS and PEI could have shooters from New Brunswick on their teams.

2015 - ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FULLBORE SECTION

2015 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RNBRA FULLBORE SECTION

TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE

ROYAL NEW BRUNSWICK RIFLE ASSOCIATION

OCTOBER 18, 2015

This has been another busy year for the RNBRA Fullbore Section. We sponsored 22 matches in total, which were attended by 204 participants. Each of these matches required the services of dedicated people to prepare, set up and take down the range, to organize the event, to serve as Range Safety Officer and to set up and take down the scoring system. Needless to say, many people helped in making these matches successful.

18-10-2015 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE RNBRA - NEW BOARD AND EXECUTIVE.

The Board and Executive of the Royal New Brunswick Rifle Association for 2015-2016
____________________________________________________________________________
From Left: Don Coleman - Fullbore Representative to the Board; Michael Lutes - Past President; Conrad Leroux - President;
 Lorraine Chapman - Director at Large; Shelley Gregan - Treasurer; Bert deVink - Director at Large; Matt Wolf - Second Vice President; 
Steven Stewart - Director at Large; Gordon Holloway - First Vice President

18-10-2015 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ROYAL NEW BRUNSWICK RIFLE ASSOCIATION

Here are some pictures of the RNBRA - AGM which was held in Sussex NB last Sunday.

Out going Board and Executive from left: Gordon Holloway,
Shelley Gregan, Steven Stewart, Lorraine Chapman, 
Michael Lutes, Don Coleman, Don Brown, Matt Wolf

And again from left: Gordon Holloway, Shelley Gregan,
Steven Stewart, Lorraine Chapman, Michael Lutes,
Don Coleman, Don Brown, Matt Wolf.

OCTOBER 1, 2015 - RAMBLINGS OF A SHOOTING BUM

HISTORY

As the weather cools and I make preparations for the upcoming winter I've had a little time to reflect on the history of our Association. The 150th  anniversary of the founding of our Association will happen in December 2016 and with a year to plan I hope we can put together a program to celebrate and honour those who have contributed to organized shooting sports in New Brunswick.

A quick check with Lorraine Chapman, our current RNBRA  Historian and Recording Secretary, has revealed the below information researched by Ellen MacGillivray who worked passionately and diligently for the RNBRA for many years, until her passing a few years ago. She wrote of a general order, No. 70 dated 3 December 1866 for a meeting to be held in the Mechanics Institute in Saint John

regarding the formation of a Provincial Rifle Association. The meeting was called by His Excellency the Commander-in-chief who wanted to see this happen. Of course, that was Sir Charles Hastings Doyle, lieutenant-governor and chief of the armed forces. Sir Charles Hastings Doyle had a very distinguished military career and is an important figure in Canadian history. The New Brunswick Rifle Association was originally formed from New Brunswick's Militia units to promote marksmanship in order to assist with the defense of the Realm. For many years the association was supported heavily by our armed forces and we still enjoy close ties with the Canadian Armed Forces today.

I recently came across a picture, (thanks Ron), of the winning Inter-Maritime Match team and it is dated 1913. To the best of my knowledge, the Inter-Maritime Match Trophy is the oldest team competition trophy in Canada and it is still an important match held yearly among New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. I'm currently looking for the RNBRA copy of the match history which should contain a wealth of historic information. If I don't find it I'll ask to borrow a copy from Al Mutch in N.S. and get some copies made. Al is a maritime shooting historian and hearing his reminiscences add great richness to my sport.  

Another of our historic trophies is the Prince of Wales Trophy, (presented by the Prince Edward himself on a visit to New Brunswick), which predates our Association by a few years and was entrusted to our Association for annual marksmanship competition. We have lived up to our commitment and continue to record yearly winners. Our trophy book ( available online at RNBRA.ca ) lists our trophies and information about the donors as well as the winners of many of the shooting competitions held in our past. This history and continuous commitment has helped our Association to evolve into the Provincial Sport Governing Body for shooting sports. We are no longer primarily involved in military type shooting and now in cooperation with affiliated clubs we promote several organized competitive programs representing different shooting disciplines.                 

Throughout our history we have been fortunate that many strong willed people have participated in our administration. The commitment and passion of these people is what has led to our Association's survival and prosperity. I remembers attending  meetings in the late 1970s and early 1980s when members would come together to discuss and decide issues and set direction for our Association. These meetings were always passionate, and at times somewhat heated, but they always followed democratic processes and even those who lost a vote understood that the decision was made by the majority without personal prejudice. Often these meetings were after a long day of competitive shooting and the next day everyone would be shooting and working together. I would marvel at their commitment and cooperation after such apparent disagreement the evening before.

As I've  grown older I've come to learn it takes people with strong personalities and respect for other points of view to ensure the success of organizations such as ours.

The strength of our Association has always been it's members and we must continue to attract strong self confident shooters for leadership roles in the RNBRA.

The future of the RNBRA depends on it's members. Please make plans to attend the 2015 AGM on October 18 in Sussex.

Michael Lutes

LIBERAL PARTY FIREARMS POLICY/PLATFORM

CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
TEAM CSSA SPECIAL REPORT - October 5, 2015

LIBERAL PARTY RELEASES THEIR POLICY PLATFORM

If you think the federal Liberals have changed their spots, you might want to read this.  This is what their newly released 2015 election policy document says about gun control and their intentions to attack the two million (plus) lawful Canadians that own firearms.

LIBERAL FIREARMS POLICY

We will take action to get handguns and assault weapons off our streets. Over the last decade, Stephen Harper has steadily weakened our gun laws in ways that make Canadians more vulnerable and communities more dangerous.

We will take pragmatic action to make it harder for criminals to get, and use, handguns and assault weapons. We will:

• repeal changes made by Bill C-42 that allow restricted and prohibited weapons to be freely transported without a permit, and we will put decision-making about weapons restrictions back in the hands of police, not politicians;

• provide $100 million each year to the provinces and territories to support guns and gangs police task forces to take illegal guns off our streets and reduce gang violence;

• modify the membership of the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to include knowledgeable law enforcement officers, public health advocates, representatives from women’s groups, and members of the legal community;

• require enhanced background checks for anyone seeking to purchase a handgun or other restricted firearm;

• require purchasers of firearms to show a license when they buy a gun, and require all sellers of firearms to confirm that the license is valid before completing the sale;

• require firearms vendors to keep records of all firearms inventory and sales to assist police in investigating firearms trafficking and other gun crimes;

• immediately implement the imported gun marking regulations that have been repeatedly delayed by Stephen Harper; and

• as part of our investment in border infrastructure, invest in technologies to enhance our border guards’ ability to detect and halt illegal guns from the United States entering into Canada.

We will not create a new national long-gun registry to replace the one that has been dismantled.

We will ensure that Canada becomes a party to the international Arms Trade Treaty.