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Originally Posted by SPEMack618
So no provision to conceal carry at all?
How about open carry while hunting or hiking?
Anything similar to the Castle Law?
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No concealed carry at all. Off-duty police officers can carry their issued firearm in civillian clothes, but they CANNOT carry a personal firearm. The gun laws apply to everyone equally.
There is such a thing as bush carry of handguns for prospectors or trappers who are working in remote areas and carry enough equipment that a rifle or shotgun is impractical. What you have to understand here is that doesn't apply to most people. It's almost exclusively people working in truly remote areas in the North - equivlent to being in a remote area in Alaska, not your local woods. That said, for hikers and campers on crown (publically owned) land in rural areas where it's legal to discharge a firearm, it's not uncommon to carry a shotgun or rifle. In fact I sell alot of breakdown .22 rifles and pistol grip shotguns for that.
Nothing like Castle Law. If you shoot someone in your home, you're going to have to prove it was literally a life or death situation, and that you had the firearm stored legally when they entered your home. Most of them time, criminal charges will be laid. Self-defense against other people is not a legal reason for owning a firearm in Canada. The only legal reason to own a gun for self defense in this country is for large 4-legged animals in rural areas, and that means a long gun.
You really have to understand that there's a very different gun culture here than in the States. In the States, it seems to me that most people own a gun for self defense, and it's legally and socially acceptable to shoot someone if you're threatened. Here, guns are for hunting and target shooting. There's a growning tactical / self defense market here (which I attribute to the American influence), but shooting someone here is neither legally nor socially acceptable.
I'm a product of that culture myself - I'm a soldier, I've been overseas, I've seen people die, but nothing I own is worth killing someone over. If they want my TV, they can have it. I keep my guns trigger locked, in safes, in a separate room, with the ammo in locked in separate cabinets. If someone breaks into my house, I'm more likely to call the cops than get a gun. Even walking around downtown late at night, I've never felt like I needed to be carrying a gun. If it was legal to carry a gun or keep one in the home for self-defense, I might do it, but most of the time I probably wouldn't. Maybe that'll come back to bite me in the ass someday, but I'm honestly not upset that I can't. Frankly, working in a gun shop, talking to lots of gun owners, tends to make you think it's not a bad thing that most people don't have immediate access to firearms.