Here is my interpretation of a summary of self defense.
- You cannot carry weapons for the purpose of self defense.
Sorry, I believe this to be wrong.
From my book:
Canadian Law and Self Defence (though there is much more to this topic than this little precis)
S. 87 – Possession of a Weapon for a
Dangerous Purpose:
The following section is used in the arrest and conviction
of those people who have a weapon and claim a legal right
to carry it but may be planning to use it for crime.
S. 87 Every one who carries or has in his possession a
weapon or imitation thereof, for a purpose danger-
ous to the public peace or for the purpose of com-
mitting an offence, is guilty of an indictable offence
and is liable to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding ten years.
The Right to Carry a Weapon for
Self Defence:
Greenspan notes:
“This section does not prohibit persons arming them-
selves for self-protection and in the absence of other cir-
cumstances the offence under this section is not
committed if the accused carries for self-defence a
weapon that is an appropriate instrument with which to
repel, in a lawful manner, the type of attack reasonably
apprehended and if the accused is competent to handle
the weapon and likely to use it responsibly.”
Although Mr. Greenspan is a noted member of the profes-
sion and had his own T.V. show about legal issues, we
should regard this only as his opinion. Who will judge
whether my choice of instrument is appropriate or not? I
assume a judge or jury will, so I also assume I must choose
a weapon to suit their criteria and not perhaps the situa-
tion itself. Leave your cannon at home, I guess. The ques-
tion of the likelihood of using your weapon of choice responsibly may allow you to call on an expert witness in
your favor, i.e., your sensei or a police expert, to show that
your weapon of choice was appropriate to the task and
that you are practised in its safe use. -page 75
Sulland 2CCC 3d 68:
In 1982, an 18 year old named Sulland was seen by
police to be hiding something under his jacket. It turned
out to be a can of beer, but the police also noticed a
jack-knife in a belt case. Sulland was arrested and con-
victed under S. 85. The trial Judge asserted it was not
proper for persons to arm themselves for self-protection
when they walk on the streets. This was overturned by
the B.C. Court of Appeals who ruled, in part:
“The Code does not prohibit instruments for
self-defence and S. 85 should not be converted into such
a prohibition. There are many other prohibitions in the
Code. They focus on the weapon (S. 89) or the place it is
taken (S. 86) or the manner in which it is carried, S. 88
(2). S. 85 is narrow; it focuses on purpose –I conclude
that when the trial Judge equated self protection with a
purpose dangerous to the public peace he erred.”
This case clearly supports the idea that carrying a
weapon for self defence purposes is not against the law,
even if there are a lot of restrictions that do go along with
it.
Arrance 3CCC 2nd 341:
This 1971 case found Arrance guilty of carrying a
concealed weapon because the folding knife he had
in his pocket had a locking blade. It could only be
opened manually. It was not a switchblade nor was
there any evidence that it was designed to be a
weapon. He was convicted anyway.
He appealed the conviction and won, leaving us to
wonder at the extra cost to the taxpayers to sort out
this Judge’s obvious bias. At least the judgment
included these words:
“While it may be used effectively in fighting
offensively or defensively unless there is some-
thing in the evidence to show that it was
designed to be so used, a conviction (for carry-
ing a concealed weapon) should not be regis-
tered.”
If all the laws about the firearm are complied with, a firearm is a suitable weapon in some cases to be used "on the sudden" for self defence.
Ted
http://defendyourself101.ca
- but to apparently be starting from scratch with a handgun and talk about self-defence in almost the same sentence is a tad worrying, especially since your first post asked about a revolver that is about as far from a useful self-defence weapon as possible.
)
