Legal Issues

Briefing Paper

NFA Privacy Policy

Introduction

The National Firearms Association has just released an updated version of A Primer on Search Warrants.

A PDF version (1.2 Mb) of this text in a trifold pamphlet format, suitable for commercial printing may be downloaded from:

http://www.nfa.ca/files/searchwarrants09pamphlet.pdf

A PDF version (38.45 Kb)of this text, reformatted to fit on regular NFA letterhead, suitable for single sided printing may be downloaded from:

http://www.nfa.ca/files/searchwarrants09letter.pdf

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This "Primer" will give you the basics.  PRINT it, discuss it with your family, and post it inside a cupboard or some place your family knows about.  Add your own important phone numbers.

1.  Can the police just kick down my door to get in to my house?

The general rule is that police are required to announce their presence, announce that they have a search warrant and request permission to enter. If permission is denied then they are entitled to use reasonable force to conduct the search. If you are not at home at the time of the search, the police are entitled to use reasonable force to enter your residence and conduct the search. The police may dispense with the proper announcement when executing a search warrant of a home where the circumstances of the case show a real threat of violent behaviour to the police or to third parties (R. v. Genest, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 59).

If you have ever needed to make contact with a firearms control bureaucrat, you have probably found it quite difficult. Here are the addresses and phone numbers that you need. Keep them for future reference! If you have not needed them yet, you probably will before too long…

 Click here to download "Registration Variations" in PDF format. 44.25 Kb

NFA BRIEFING DOCUMENT 21 VERSION 1

Due to a number of errors and omissions in the Firearms Act procedures for registering firearms, there are a number of things that can be done that the writers of the Firearms Act apparently did not intend to allow.  As a result, the firearms registration system should probably be entirely re-written by someone who understands systems design.  The original writers apparently had little or no knowledge of the requirements of good systems design, and it shows.

NFA BRIEFING DOCUMENT 20 VERSION 1

Criminal Code section (CC s.) 95 says:

95 (1)  Subject to subsection (3) [does not apply to a legal situation where the person is using the firearm under the direct supervision of another person who is lawfully entitled to do the same thing with the same firearm] and section 98 [obsolete section], every person commits an offence who, in any place, possesses a loaded prohibited firearm or restricted firearm, or an unloaded prohibited firearm or restricted firearm  together with readily accessible ammunition, unless the person is the holder of

(a) an authorization or licence under which the person may possess the firearm in that place; and

(b) the registration certificate for the firearm.

This section is much misunderstood, and frequently charges are laid, using it, improperly.

At first glance, it appears that the person with the firearm requires some sort of special licence "under which the person may possess the firearm in that place," loaded or with readily accessible ammunition.

NFA BRIEFING DOCUMENT 19 VERSION 3

Criminal Code section 2 says:

2.  "firearm" means a barrelled weapon from which any shot, bullet or other projectile can be discharged and that is capable of causing serious bodily injury or death to a person, and includes any frame or receiver of such a barreled weapon and anything that can be adapted for use as a firearm.

That definition conflicts with the definitions of the various classes and subclasses of firearms found in CC s. 84(1) and Firearms Act section 12.

NFA BRIEFING DOCUMENT 17 VERSION 1

Firearms control law consists of three parts -- the Firearms Act, the Criminal Code sections that affect firearms, and the Orders in Council that affect firearms.

Regarding both the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code, the solution to your need to "know the law" is simple.  Go to the law and read it.  You can be foxed by the Criminal Code, though; it has Part III, "Firearms And Other Offensive Weapons," as sections 84 to 117.15 inclusive -- but there are many other sections that are important if you want to understand firearms law.  For example, the definition of "firearm" is in section 2, far away from Part III.

The worst area is the Regulations, prescriptions and definitions that lurk in Orders in Council.  Most people don't even know what an Order in Council is, let alone how to find out what's in it.

NFA BRIEFING DOCUMENT 16, VERSION 4 

It is possible that, some day, you will be refused a licence or authorization to transport by the Chief Firearms Officer or one of his staff.  It is possible that you may be refused a registration certificate, authorization to export or authorization to import by the Registrar or one of his staff.

NFA Briefing Document 9, Version 5

Parliament established an administrative structure and a set of administrative procedures enacted to control and deal with the problems that arise from the use of force to protect human life from criminal violence.  People--including police officers--are often confused by the scattering of the various relevant provisions. They exist, but they are not placed together in the Criminal Code.

It is necessary to examine certain sections of the Criminal Code to determine when a person may legally use force--including firearms--to protect human life from criminal violence.  The relevant provisions are: