Rick Hemmingson

Self-Defence and Firearms in Canada

Recent news stories about the use of a firearm to stop the commission of various crimes and subsequent statements from the RCMP have (again) raised the issue of armed self-defence under Canadian law.  Does that right still exist?  If so, how and when can it be exercised?

Canada has a history of decades of political fear-mongering about firearms and so it is difficult to have an intelligent, principled debate about the use of a firearm for self-defence by a citizen.  Our divide-and-conquer politicians have frequently and effectively hoisted the spectre of homicidal gun owners, assisted by “journalists” who are willing to substitute moralizing and social engineering for principled fact-finding.  We are therefore at a place where calm and rational debate about  civilian use of firearms for self-defence has become extremely difficult.  This may account for the RCMP’s denigration of that possibility and is the stimulus for this article.

Who authorized RCMP to make warrantless entries into High River homes during the 2013 flood?

In the summer of 2013, Canadians were witness to wholesale house-to-house searches and seizures of property by the RCMP in High River, Alberta. Certainly hundreds and more likely thousands of private homes were entered without probable cause and without warrants. Doors were kicked in and officers entered the abandoned homes. Firearms, ammunition and other weapons, e.g., archery equipment, were seized. Complaints were made and various explanations and justifications have since been offered by the RCMP in response.