Five Canadian quick draw competitors were teased about Donald Trump鈥檚 51st state comments during a May trip to compete in South Dakota, but it wasn鈥檛 anything serious, said Den Robinson, director of the 91原创-based Thunderbird Fast Draw Club.
It was their first trip south so far this year.
鈥淲ith all of that 鈥�51st State hooraw鈥� going on, and with riots and everything else happening below our border, several members of the Thunderbird Fast Draw Club were somewhat hesitant to venture south with their sixguns, but wanted to take part in the Wax Bullet Fast Draw Championships in Sturgis, South Dakota at the end of the month,鈥� Robinson explained.
鈥淚t sure wasn鈥檛 our fellow American shooters we were worried about, it was any of the others [down south] that might be angry if they saw some B.C. 鈥� Canada licence plates in their territory.鈥�
Robinson can report the trip to Sturgis was incident-free, though their American hosts couldn鈥檛 resist teasing the Canadians.
Robinson didn鈥檛 take it seriously when U.S. competitors made jokes about annexing Canada or making it the 51st state.
鈥淚 thought it was a joke from the beginning,鈥� Robinson commented.
One of the prizes at the event was a Trump T-shirt, which allowed Robinson to get a big laugh by claiming he would wear it driving back into Canada.
91原创鈥檚 Shawn and Paula Murphy were top guns in Sturgis, with Shawn taking first in Men鈥檚 Top Open class while Paula won in the Women鈥檚 Thumbing class (an event calling for the shooter to use only one hand to draw and fire the gun).
Robinson took fifth in the Men鈥檚 Top Open.
Crossing back into Canada, Robinson, who did not wear the Trump T-shirt, had a pleasant encounter at the border when he declared his handgun.
鈥淭he nice young Canadian border guard gal asked me 鈥漺hat kind of firearm do you have?鈥� I told her; 鈥淎 Ruger single-action sixgun.鈥� When she answered 鈥極h, for fast draw?,鈥� I sat up; kind of surprised she鈥檇 know that. I said 鈥榊es.鈥� She said 鈥業鈥檝e seen that on TV. It鈥檚 so cool!鈥� Then she asked 鈥楬ow fast are you?鈥� I said 鈥楴ot as fast as we used to be!鈥� She laughed and said 鈥榊ou may go right through,鈥� pointing straight ahead. It was the first time we hadn鈥檛 been pulled over in years.鈥�
Coming up for the Thunderbirds is a demo of fast draw on Brae Island on July 5. After that, the long-running World Fast Draw blank championships will take place again at the Aldergrove Fair on July 19 and 20.
Robinson describes the Aldergrove Fair Fast event as 鈥渢he most consecutive-on-going contest in the history of the sport,鈥� which includes a celebrity shootout at high noon on the Saturday.
