Serious threat to hobby

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

........and in recent times law-making has been driven by newspaper headlines in a number of cases.

Don't exclude television and movies as influencing policy makers. During the 70s, with the TV series Kung-Fu being very popular here in North America, the Canadian Government banned throwing stars, Nunchuk sticks, and blow dart guns. Switch blade knives were already banned back in the 60s I believe, and at some point firecrackers joined the club of non-grata.

So natural progression means that with movies like James Bond, where he uses things like a battle tank to make good his escape, they too must be banned next.

We already had our military vehicle ownership threatened here when the provinces started regulating bullet proof vests and (up)armoured vehicles. This was due to the possibility of gangs using them with Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator effectiveness. Fortunately in our province, a certain MLU member had the foresight to talk to the policy makers and get an exemption written in for possession by the owner of historic military vehicles. It still means that technically you cannot borrow an armoured vehicle from another member unless you were to obtain the $100 permit. Fines range up to $10,000 as well as making the owner incur all costs for the towing and destruction of the vehicle.

Hanno: If the above is politics, then perhaps we need a politics section, as it is threatening our hobby.