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The Wandering Rifles By Mike Lushington

Unfortunately, in the eyes of some people, including those who run airlines and those whose jobs in government seem to exist for the sole purpose of binding us with more and more regulations and restrictions on all sorts of things, the use of rifles makes biathlon a sport of questionable validity. In those eyes, biathletes must therefore be considered to be threats to society, much as are terrorism suspects and criminals. Or, at least, I have had to come to this conclusion in the light of our experiences in trying to get home from Whitehorse after the recent Canada Games.              Biathlon New Brunswick Shooting Coach Philip Nadeau is a thorough and conscientious individual. Realizing that rifles are considered to be "dangerous goods" and therefore liable to all sorts of restrictions and regulations when one needs to transport them, he began to do his homework months before the Games began. Just trying to find out exactly what requirements were in place was an exercise in frustration itself. After countless phone calls to Department of Transport  and various airline officials, he gradually figured out what he had to do and, by the time we left for the Games, he was confident that the rifles were secure, according to all regulations. His only fear was that we would become separated from them while we were travelling - and that is exactly what happened during our trip back home.             Our flight from Whitehorse was delayed and our baggage - personal stuff, skis, equipment, and the rifles - got mixed in with that of other teams from all over the country. Thus while we made a relatively uneventful trip back to Moncton, our rifles ended up in Vancouver. And that was, as they say, where the fun began. You see, according to post 9/11 regulations (and paranoia) "dangerous goods" cannot be transported unless someone is present to claim them - something that we tried to remind airline officials repeatedly during the chaotic departure from Whitehorse. For several days, e-mails and phone calls flew across the continent, while the rifles didn't. Air North - our charter service from Whitehorse - did not fly into Vancouver. West Jet refused to have anything to do with them. Air Canada performed as Air Canada does more and more frequently, it seems and that is to say, not at all.             Finally, the powers that be, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it was too dangerous to ship five double locked, hard plastic cases with rifles in them ( with no ammunition, which had to be packed and carried separately) by air. What possible danger they posed no one could or would explain; that was the decision and that was that. However, they agreed to ship them by ground transport - from Vancouver - a trip that undoubtedly had the rifles moved from one truck to another on several occasions, under the pretext that that was the safe way to do things.              We arrived home on March 3rd - the rifles finally caught up with us on March 15th. I can only assume that no one was injured or threatened while handling them - and for that we probably should be grateful to the wise bureaucrats who are out there ceaselessly protecting us from ourselves. Those darned rifles, a friend of mine once observed, wouldn't biathlon be a great sport if it weren't for them? I agreed, but pointed out that there is already such a sport - it is called cross country skiing.