Shoppers Drug Mart yanks gun mag after ex-Toronto mayor David "douchebag" Miller complains

Gun enthusiasts are calling Shoppers Drug Mart’s decision to pull a firearms magazine from its shelves “weak” after it received a complaint from former Toronto mayor David Miller. following what they are calling a “political” complaint from a former Toronto mayor as “weak.”

On Saturday, Miller directed a tweet to the company accompanied by a picture of Recoil magazine depicting a handgun and blade on the front cover. “Really @ShopprsDrugMart, promoting semi automatic weapons at our local shop? How about you stop.”

Really @ShopprsDrugMart , promoting semi automatic weapons at our local shop? How about you stop. pic.twitter.com/YzJoAUkziw

— David Miller T.O. (@iamdavidmiller) February 17, 2018

Shoppers Drug Mart responded to the tweet on Tuesday, saying, “We’ve decided to remove this issue from our stores. We are working on pulling all copies in circulation and will not receive any further shipments of this publication.”

Neither Miller nor Shoppers Drug Mart could immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

Miller’s Twitter feed has been filled with gun control posts, including those related to the Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead when a gunman entered a Florida high school and went on a firing spree.

But Sheldon Clare, president of the Canadian gun advocacy group National Firearms Association, said reading a magazine about guns doesn’t mean the reader will be swayed towards violence.

“People have the right to read whatever they want to read as long as it doesn’t promote hate or pornography and there are a lot of people that are interested in the history of firearms,” he said. “Pulling magazines off of a shelf based on the complaint of someone who clearly has a political agenda to suppress people reading things they’re interested in is completely silly.”

Clare added he thinks it’s “really weak” of Shoppers Drug Mart to succumb to Miller’s request.

“If we start down the path of burning books, then you end up in a very dark place,” he said.

A number of people on Twitter also expressed concern over censorship.

“How is this brilliant? Looking at pictures in a magazine of firearms we can’t even own in Canada doesn’t hurt anyone. Censorship is wrong. If you can’t see it I guess it doesn’t exist though, correct?” one wrote.

“Really, it only takes one complaint to remove stuff from your store? hope you removed all the other offensive magazines, too? Got any drug paraphernalia mags? Magazines on violent video games? I will have to come in and see what I don’t like,” wrote another person.

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