r/canadaguns • u/AutoModerator • Jun 06 '22

Weekly Politics Thread

Please post all your Politics or Ban-related ideas, initiatives, comments, suggestions, news articles, and recommendations in this thread. Unless new information is published in the media, recurring articles related to the gov'ts ***possible*** legislation are to be posted here. These threads will be weekly, until it's necessary for another per-week.

Previous politics threads can be found here. Previous threads can be found here.

We understand that politics is a touchy subject, and at times things can get heated. A reminder of the subreddit rules, when commenting, where subreddit users are expected to abide.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '22

Technically there is no duty to retreat clause. Here in Southern AB someone fired a warning shot and hit someone else in the hand and got off despite fulfilling literally none of those. Like the guy went out of his house with a .22 to confront burglars trying to steal an ATV and they posed more or less no threat to him and he got off by saying he was firing off a warning shot. The argument could be made that anything from a plastic spoon to a baseball bat is a deadly weapon. Personally I'm a 5'8" 135lbs guy, most females could overpower me. If some guy is coming at me with a bat my only real option is to shoot him. Hence why I keep a handgun on my bedside table (it's stored in a quick access safe with a combo trigger lock on the firearm, it's all legal). Thankfully Alberta's judges are pretty loose on their intrepations of a self defense shooting.

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u/GinnAdvent Jun 07 '22

The whole idea is that from a self defense perspective, you are not suppose to engage the perp unless you are physically blocked by them and can't escape.

From firearm perspective, I suppose you can discharge them on your property given that you live far away from neighbors and from main road. But you can't really fire warning shots to people, however, if it's rural setting, that might be taken into account by a learned judge? You definitely can't fire warning shots in the city.

If a guy is literally outside your door and you are trapped on the 2nd floor and might hurt yourself going out the window, then yeah, that's all you can use.

The premise is that if you want your case to be easier through the court, you adhere to both self defense and firearm acts and policy, there might be less legal hassle, but by no means you have to use it. Then again, every court case is different with jury so maybe firing a warning shot will work if police is an hour away.

There are always previous cases people build up on as precursor, and that would be something that court may decide to use or may not depend on some similar it is.

The only way to find out is that when your standing before the judge, so no one will know until then.

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u/DarseZ Jun 07 '22

Like the guy went out of his house with a .22 to confront burglars trying to steal an ATV

That guy didn't get charged I guess, according to your story, but that is a complete abuse of the notion of self-defense.

Self-defense is the imminent threat of losing one's life. Someone stealing an ATV doesn't come close to meeting that definition.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '22 edited Jun 08 '22

It's Alberta, and Canada has no laws saying you have to retreat. I hope we can get a clear castle doctrine law. I think the only reason he didn't get any time was because he said it was a warning shot. He was charged but it was dropped. Personally I like the guy, he did the right thing. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/eddie-maurice-rural-homeowner-shooting-trespasser-lawsuit-intruder-watson-1.5295370 thanks to him, I can't be sued for shooting a home invader if they survive. Because the AB government introduced this beautiful piece of legislation: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-alberta-introduces-law-to-protect-rural-landowners-who-use-force-to/

Really the trick is to not say you intended to hurt them even if you did. If you say something like the gun went off accidentally or it was a warning shot you'll be okay because we have very sympathetic jurys around here