Storage question

[matt491]

Okay, here's an excerpt from the restricted firearms safety course handbook.

"Ammunition for a restricted firearm may only be stored in a place where it is not within east access to the firearm, unless the ammunition is stored, together with or seperately from the firearm, in:
- A securely locked container or receptacle that cannot be easily broken open or into OR,
- A securely locked vault, safe or room specifically built or adapted for the secure storage of restricted firearms.

My understanding was that you can never under any circumstances legally store a firearm with ammo in the same safe, vault, room or lockable gun case.

If I'm understanding the wording correctly, according to this, I CAN store ammo and the gun in the same vault, gun case or room as long as it is not easily broken open or into!?

Someone please clarify this for me.

 

[promac]

If you have your restricted firearms stored properly, you may not leave a box of ammmo where it is readily accessible to the firearm (ie ammunition on top of the locked safe that contains the restricted firearm). However, you can have the ammunition in the same locked safe as the restricted firearm. If your safe is in the basement, you might get away with having ammunition unsecured in an upstairs storage closet. So yes, you CAN store ammo and the gun in the same vault, gun case or room as long as it is not easily broken open or into. The firearm has to be unloaded.


http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/F-11.6/SOR-98-209/index.html

I would recommend having all ammunition locked up to avoid a Criminal Code charge under subsection 86(1):

Careless use of firearm, etc.

86. (1) Every person commits an offence who, without lawful excuse, uses, carries, handles, ships, transports or stores a firearm, a prohibited weapon, a restricted weapon, a prohibited device or any ammunition or prohibited ammunition in a careless manner or without reasonable precautions for the safety of other persons.

 

[EEJayde]

The simple answer to your question Matt is YES, you can store ammo and restricted firearms together in the same safe.

Legally, you can store the ammo anywhere you want. As promac mentioed, the issue is here:

without reasonable precautions for the safety of other persons.

There is no legal definition of the word "reasonable", which makes the issue very grey. But it would generally depend on your living arrangements and lifestyle. If their are unlicensed people in your household or you regularly have unlicensed visitors, leaving the ammo laying around would likely not be considered resonable. But if you live alone and don't often have guests, it would be reasonable to leave it pretty much anywhere you felt like.

Judgement call. It's up to you and what you think is "reasonable".

 

[matt491]

Thanks for clearing that up guys.