I could be wrong but I think the law states if the fire arm is rendered unusable it is safe to store or display. any one can buy a firing pin without a p.a.l. so that is not really unusable. also don't buy a generic lock I have opened more then one persons trigger lock at the range because they forgot their keys at home.
This is wrong, it simply needs to be rendered inoperable to the average person at that time. You can buy a bolt and have a gunsmith fit it without a PAL too, and I don't know any gunsmith that will check your pal when you bring a gun in.
The law is that it must be rendered inoperable. I've spoken to rcmp, cps, and the cfc about this, more for curiosity sake but then one of my buddy's got into shooting and couldn't afford a cabinet right away was just curious what the law was.
The cops both told me that they would actually prefer to see the bolt/firing pin/trigger group etc removed yo disable the gun AND a trigger lock AND inside a safe, because that's going to be the most secure.
When I called them on it they said sure that's pretty unrealistic, if you pulled the bolt and trigger locked it that's still pretty good, but if you were in a pinch then disabling it in any way, such as removing the trigger group if it comes out easy enough, removing the bolt or firing pin if easy enough, removing the barrel, etc, would all be sufficient to meet the requirements of the law.
They said that the law is not about theft it is ti prevent the firearms from being used on impulse. They all agreed that with respect to theft, if someone wants it bad enough they will get it and if they really wanted to make that particular gun work they could. But both cops also told me that they hand seem more than just a couple instances where stolen long guns were actually thrown away by the thieves after they realized that there was a missing piece that was critical to the functioning of the gun.
Hence, hide the bolt somewhere else in the house that is not obvious, and you can keep the gun on the living room wall or behind the front door or wherever you damn well please. They don't prefer that because they would obviously prefer we don't even have them in the first place, but the law is the law