At the December 10, Council meeting, the City of Vernon adopted a bylaw to regulate, prohibit and impose requirements with regards to the discharge and use of dangerous weapons.

Clint Kanester, Manager of Bylaw Enforcement, said, “Bow hunters and property owners with nuisance bears may be particularly interested in some of the items in this bylaw.”

This bylaw:

• Continues to regulate the discharge of firearms within the community
• Regulates the use of long bows and cross bows within the community
• Requires arrows or bolts to be marked so the owner may be identified
• Allows Staff to have Council authority to issue permits for discharge of firearms under specific circumstances – such as Military Pageants, Salutes, Funerals or for movie production, etc...
• Provides permit allowances for the use of a “Bear Banger”, previously banned from use under the bylaw.

Recognizing that farms and larger properties may have differing needs, the new bylaw:

• Continues to allow bow use for hunting or predator control on properties over 2 hectares in size
• Continues to allow bow use on bona fide farm properties for protection of crops or predator control
• Continues to allow bow use on school properties while under supervision of a teacher
• Continues to allow bow use in association with an archery competition
• Allows permits to be issued for bow target shooting on properties less than 2 hectares in size meeting approved safety requirements.