Traffic stop

[u/shaunderford]

Hello just wondering if I’m legally transporting a firearm (non restricted) and I am pulled over by a police officer am i under obligation to inform the officer i have a firearm in the vehicle?

[u/Geralt-of-Rivai]

Nope. And I wouldn't recommend it, you're just opening yourself up to more trouble, a cop that could be set out to nail you with something and cause you grief. Now if they ask if you have any weapons, firearms in the vehicle don't lie. You can say I have a valid PAL and I have my non restricted firearms in my vehicle. Do not offer to show them or let them see them. If they want to you can say they can follow you to a gun store/range where it's safe to open them up but never volunteer to handle firearms at the roadside. If they want you to step out and do a search of your vehicle themselves they need to have just cause, they don't have an automatic right to search your vehicle just because you are a PAL owner during a routine traffic stop. Keep it out of plain view and keep your right to remain silent

[u/cartman101 → u/Geralt-of-Rivai]

Funnily enough, you don't even need to keep your unrestricteds out of plain sight. You could have your 12 gauge on your dash, and it should be ok

But here's a pro tip my firearm instructor gave us. In rural Alberta, the cop is probably fully aware of firearms rights, laws, and the culture. He might just ask to see your PAL and compliment your gun.

In Downtown Ottawa however...you might way more hastle, just cuz it's unusual.

[u/AgreeablePanda9805 → u/cartman101]

Yah I recall our instructor telling us he could walk each of his non-restricted guns out to his vehicle in full sight. If they are unloaded and proven safe you can just carry them out to the car. But he said, it’s more hassle to deal with the cop that gets called by multiple people about a guy with multiple long guns, even if what you’re doing is totally legal.

So covering your guns in the back or trunk of the car is best practice.

[u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25 → u/AgreeablePanda9805]

However, we should be normalizing legal behaviour with firearms, and not hiding from the public. It is called educating the public. Instead, we are hiding like we are criminals. Well, is it any surprise we are being treated as such?

[u/AgreeablePanda9805 → u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25]

It’s one thing to normalize legal behaviour vs what’s appropriate. I don’t think in an urban setting it is appropriate to be carrying rifles and shotguns out of a conference centre to your car. Maybe if you live in a rural community and you need your gun for protection from wildlife it’s normal to carry it openly into your car. But in the GTA, I honestly would be alarmed if I saw someone just carrying a shotgun openly and I’m licensed.

[u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25 → u/AgreeablePanda9805]

Appropriate is a matter of taste or feeling. Why do you think people are afraid of perfectly legal behaviour/activity? They are ignorant and rely on their feelings. Ok. Lets just ditch the law and live our lives based on feelings? Your feelings are your problem and thats why we need to educate the public.

[u/AgreeablePanda9805 → u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25]

Guns are weapons. There’s no debating that. And it’s silly to expect people to get over the feelings they have if they see someone walking around with a weapon in a setting where it is not required (like just open carry in a parking lot of a conference centre).
There is what is legal and what is just basic reality of most people’s reactions.
A gun being seen at a range, or in the woods, or rural communities, or in open carry states in the US? That’s a totally different context than seeing a weapon in an urban setting in Canada where it is much more difficult to acquire a gun and there is very little rational for openly carrying a firearm you have no intent of using and no real purpose for openly carrying around.

Responsible gun owners recognize how the general public feels about seeing guns. And you don’t need to flaunt your guns around in public to educate people out of their feelings.

[u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25 → u/AgreeablePanda9805]

Blah blah blah.....my feelings.

Even in the States 2nd Ammendment auditors are educating the public on legalitiea of open carry.

We are lost, and you are a good indicator as to why.

[u/Goliad1990 → u/cartman101]

In Downtown Ottawa however

In downtown Ottawa, SWAT will be called, and there is a high probability that you don't leave the vehicle alive.

A lot of the City of Ottawa is actually rural though, and has municipal land zoned for hunting and firearm discharge. In those areas, you might as well be in Red Deer

[u/grathontolarsdatarod → u/cartman101]

I was out in crown land and there was a single conservation officer doing a check point, pretty far into the only road in. Seemed like he was doing a check for firearms. Cause that was basically his first question of consequence.

He got us out of the vehicle to have a look (we didn't refuse) and he went through about half a dozen firearms each that we had brought to play with. He asked about and searched for restricted and then we talked about the firearms we had and we'd be going and if we were staying the night. Crown shooting was basically our only menu item for the day.

I was aspiring for my first hunt at the time and he had experience so I actually had a lot of questions for him, we were probably stopped for about half an hour before we kept on.

We even commented on him being alone. He said that they have good radios and most people are just like us.

Another year, me and the same guy met at a coffee shop to transfer firearms we were lending each other. And that should have been CLEAR for anyone watching unless you'd ever even seen a gear bag or know a manufacturer. There was a gaggle of RCMP just the row of car over having a confab and watched us do everything. We just waved, my buddy stayed with the cars and I went to get coffees. Stayed for a little visit like we had planned. Not a pip for them. They cleared out before our visit was over.

Also got pulled over, alone, moving stuff from a storage unit near a protest. Fine. He asked my questions about my exhaust. When then wanted in the cargo area. I paused and smiled. I told him I was moving things from my storage unit but told him "sure". There were two pieces of brass about deck and he asked about them. I saw them and told that I probably missed them from being out of crownland. I pointed out that one of the pieces of brass was for a wildcat round that you actually can't buy in Canada and put that one in my pocket. He took my information and I was on my way.

Those are all my experiences. There is a lot of potential for things to go weird if the cop is weird, and highly dependent on where you are and what's going on.

The last one was kind of annoying. But i figured that since there was a huge protest nearby, they gonna do what they are out there for.

[u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25 → u/grathontolarsdatarod]

You let that CO violate your rights 🙄 because you didnt mind. FFS.

[u/grathontolarsdatarod → u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25]

The check point was a bit odd to me. My guess is that they were looking for a specific type of people and probably based off a complaint. I drove a real bush pig at the time for that kind of stuff.

There was a rash of poaching happening at that time, and also the area had been recently "discovered" by covid apartment dwellers.

COs are odd to me, but I know their powers of seizure are not to be triffled with.

But I get what you mean.

[u/Additional_Fold_1350 → u/grathontolarsdatarod]

CO's arent all that bad, though alot of them I run into are young bucks fresh out of training.

Ive educated a few of them on transport through the years. Had one guy even ask to shoot my crossbow when he seen a crossbow target out with me during hunting season one time. He had never shot a crossbow so we pulled up to a cutline down the road, set the target 20 yards down and shot for 20mins. Then he asked if I actually had a hunting license and checked it LOL. CO's most of the time are just people, lots of them are hunters and gun guys too.

I have no problem chatting guns and bows with them during hunting season, or even trading flies come fishing season. I tie my own so usually give out quite a few during the season, much more than what I lose. Ive only ever had CO's check my lisence fishing if they can see me from the road though, and my preference is high mountain streams and issolated no name creeks in the Alberta foothills. It's rare to see anyone let alone CO's which is why I like it. Id rather drive 3hrs to get to my spots, shooting/hunting/fishing than go run into people during the day. Which is sort of why my 17yearold and I are going to start sheep hunting next year.

[u/Muted-Garden6723 → u/cartman101]

Exactly this, I’ve walked down the road carrying a gun in my hand and my only interaction with police has been them waving as they drove by. But I live in rural Nova Scotia where theres a gun in every home. I’d imagine i would get a different reaction if I lived in a more populated area

[u/Additional_Fold_1350 → u/Muted-Garden6723]

Grew up in Cape Breton back when we could have gun racks in our trucks. Use to take my shotgun to school every day during bird season. Even before I drove we would take guns broken down on the school bus, then locked in the proncipals office in a cabinate for the day. USe to have a 2km walk to and from my bus stop with a bunch of old apple trees scattered in field we would hut for grouse.

People are shocked and dont even believe this was ral or even a thing these days. I had an old boss who lived in ST.Albert just NW of Edmonton who had similar stories about hunting ducks in the marsh/lake which is within the city now. He would openly walk city streets with his 12ga heading duck hunting after school when he was even 12-14 years old at the time.

Different times, when common sense wasnt extinct.

[u/Muted-Garden6723 → u/Additional_Fold_1350]

Times are a changing forsure

I’m only 22, and I can remember as a kid we used to go target shooting in my friends backyard since his house was surrounded by woods, technically illegal in NS but the one time a cop stopped in he just told us to stop being dumb and wear hearing protection when shooting

Then a few years ago we got a bunch of people from Toronto moving in the area and they didn’t like the target shooting, now the only time you can get away with shooting in your yard is in New Year’s Eve.

I don’t except to be able to walk anywhere with a gun in a few years without getting harassed by cops

[u/Additional_Fold_1350 → u/Muted-Garden6723]

My Dad was RCMP growing up, we use to shoot a few hundred rounds of 308 in our back yard all the time, hunting season or not. Knew all the neighbors and nobody had an issue with it. If I ever go back ill probably keep shooting on a piece of land I have up the road from the old house, but will just shoot CCI quiets, the segmented ones at 750fps are so quiet people think my faux suppressor is real anyways lol

But I hear you about Ontario people moving down, my mothers been having a nightmare with them and her dogs who havent been chained in thier life. THey stay on her property but charge the fence line when these folks are mowing the lawn at the edge of her pasture. Dogs wont cross the fence line and only bark at them because they are terrified of the dogs. They were threatning to sue for mental anguish over it. But then they did a bunch of grading which flooded out some of her land. Being an Environmentlal consultant myself, I drafted up a nice letter to the NB government about it. Neighbors got slapped with a hefty fine under provincial law, and were also charged with filling in wetlands on thier land along with not having permits for thier new garage. They had to remediate thier changes in drainage and pay wetland compensation for the infilled wetlands, which between the two cost them more than $70k, and the county made them tear down thier new 3 car garage as they didnt respect an environemental easement.

They wont even talk to my mother anymore, and she told me last week that the place is up for sale. Thought they could push arround a 74 yearold country woman as they were smarter and from Ottawa, guess they under estimated what us country bumpkins can do if pushed too hard. Two can play thier games, half my job is digging through regulations to keep my clients compliant, and find loopholes when they brought me in too late. Ive worked with many who were shut down for environmental compliance through the years and helped them navigate the processes to get them compliant and back in business so I can easily work both sides and weaponize the laws against those who think they are better than us all.

[u/i-Hermit → u/Muted-Garden6723]

Man, how rural are we talking here? Also from NS and am struggling to think of a place where this would happen.

[u/Muted-Garden6723 → u/i-Hermit]

Along the Eastern shore

[u/i-Hermit → u/Muted-Garden6723]

In HRM? Or further up?

Edit: not trying to pry, I just find it legit surprising in this climate.

[u/Muted-Garden6723 → u/i-Hermit]

Further up, guysborough county. The cops tend to be pretty laid back in general, and are pretty good when it comes to guns, I’ve never had any issue carrying or transporting a gun. During hunting season it’s pretty common to see people walking on the road with a gun to get into the woods

[u/scottsuplol → u/cartman101]

Technically not true, unsecured items on a dash being it’s obstructed vision and a safety issue

[u/cartman101 → u/scottsuplol]

So a traffic violation, not a firearms one? Haha