I’ve been struck by the failure of journalists to pursue the subject of Bryer Schmegelsky’s Airsoft gun. This post combines, and slightly amends, some earlier comments.
There is an obvious question that the journalist from Australian 60 Minutes, and for that matter other journalists, should have asked Alan Schmegelsky: Do you have the Airsoft gun?
If he has it, one would think that Australian 60 Minutes would show it. If he doesn’t, one would think that the programme would say where Schmegelsky thinks it is and last saw it. It’s possible, of course, that the RCMP have it, but even that would tell us that the Airsoft did not go with Schmegelsky and McLeod when they left Port Alberni.
I also would have thought that the show, or some other journalist, would say what model Airsoft gun it is and show a decent picture of it in addition to the indistinct photo of Bryer Schmegelsky lying on the ground with it.
60 Minutes, presumably speaking of Australian dollars, says that Alan Schmegelsky paid $600 for the gun. That’s CAD540. Less 12% sales tax, that’s about CAD475 or USD375.
I am struck by the fact that Alan Schmegelsky paid that kind of money for one. He is clearly not well off, and that is at the higher end of the Airsoft market. It is overkill for what Alan Schmegelsky says was the purpose, playing around with friends in the woods (about which, more below).
He purchased the gun for Bryer when Bryer was 17. I’m no expert on who Airsoft purchasers are, but I would have thought that a 17 year old would be more interested in learning to use a real gun, especially with that kind of money being spent.
In Alan’s place, I would have encouraged Bryer to join the Port Alberni Fish and Game Club:
Alberni Fish and Game Club
This option would have been quite a bit cheaper, and more useful, than paying CAD540 (with tax) for a toy gun. The club’s annual fee is fairly low and it has an active shooting programme. If it’s like my club, it encourages young people, members teach for free and there is probably a club gun that young people can borrow. Bryer could shoot at the club without a gun license, but he would be encouraged to take the gun safety course, which costs about CAD160. This would make it possible to get a full gun license when he turned 18.
In the meantime, with the gun safety course under his belt, he could get a Minor’s License, which would enable him to borrow a gun if he wanted to go target shooting on his own. But the fact is, if you have a gun club membership, target shooting in the woods is not particularly alluring.
Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but I also wonder whether being in a shooting club environment would have set him on a path different from the one he was on.
Alan Schmegelsky says that he purchased the Airsoft gun so that Bryer could shoot in the woods with his friends. Who are these friends? Do they even exist? As far as I know, not a single person who Bryer Schmegelsky was playing Airsoft games with in the woods, presumably also an Airsoft owner, has been identified or interviewed. In any event, for that purpose paint guns would have made more sense.
Edit:
@CanadianMade points out that paint guns are environmentally unfriendly and messy. That may be so, but I know for a fact that neither deters some players in rural areas.