An interesting letter from the NFA posted on CGN. It's a good 30 page read dealing with the PEI CFO giving permission to discharge restricteds on the property the firearm is registered to.
a link to the thread:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum...on-my-own-land
A lot of this is a gray area that does not concern those who live in urban areas where it is not practical to shoot on one's property, or prohibited by municipal bylaw.
The firearms bureaucracy will maintain that it is unlawful to shoot on one's own private property in a rural area where for all intents and purposes it is practical due to the absence of other individuals and property surrounding it.
This is predicated on these things; Registration, the ATT system, and the firearms range approval system.
Registration The firearm must be "stored" at the address attached to the registration cert, unless alternative storage is approved by the provincial CFO. The firearm may only leave that address and be transported on the terms and conditions noted on the ATT. Storage and transport regulations apply. The firearm may only be transported to a gun club certified by the CFO, and a few other places approved by that CFO and noted on the ATT.
This only really effects people who live in rural areas. If your gun is registered to a physical street address, despite the fact that it might be the only address on that street for 10 miles, yes the CFO can make a case that you are breaking the conditions of the ATT by taking it into your backyard for some plinking. It has left the "residence", and is being transported - and it can only be transported to the places indicated on the ATT, usually a certified gun club approved by the CFO.
But if the gun is registered to a section of land and not a residence, and does not leave that section of land, and there is no bylaw prohibiting discharge of firearms in that area, what law or regulation is being broken?
The CFO only controls where it may be stored, where it may be transported, and the certified gun club it may be transported to. Your private property is probably not a certified gun club, so the CFO has no say unless you apply to certify it as a gun club.
If there is no issue of public safety and no complaint in the discharge of that firearm, on the section of land it is registered to and not being transported off of and there is no bylaw prohibiting the discharge of firearms, what offense is being committed?
Thoughts?
Blair Hagen
Executive Vice President
Canada's National Firearms Association
www.nfa.ca