Pellet gun incidents taking up police resources
Posted Sep 4, 2014 05:34:39 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
This summer has seen a few incidents of pellet guns being mistaken for the real thing, and police spokesperson Cst. Pierre Bourdages says the problem is taking up police resources.
“Sniper rifles, assault rifles, real looking handguns: they’re made to look like the real thing,” he said. “And unless you’re extremely close and you’re handling them physically, you can’t tell them apart from a real weapon.”
Bourdages says given the similarity, it’s no surprise people get scared when they see someone in public with one of these guns. He says the police will continue to assume these guns are real until they can confirm otherwise, and the public is right to call police when they see someone with any kind of gun in public.
Legally, Bourdages says city bylaws prevent people from having pellet guns or airsoft guns in any public parks, and Bourdages says you can’t legally fire one in public anywhere. He says they’re best used at firing ranges, or out in the country, where no one can get hurt.
“Unless you have a very safe area in your backyard, there’s not many places you can use them in the city,” he said.
The RCMP differentiates between pellet and airsoft guns, and what it calls “replica” guns.
It’s not as simple though, as just “real” and “fake” guns: the laws are complicated.
Replica guns — except for those purchased before December 1, 1998 — are illegal. This means any gun made to look “exactly or almost exactly” like a real gun — whether it’s a handgun or a rifle — is prohibited. Any airsoft gun “resembling with near precision an existing make and model of a firearm…is a replica firearm and therefore a prohibited device.”
The only time it’s deemed acceptable to have a replica gun is for use in a movie and television show, or when teaching a Canadian Firearms Safety Course.
Air guns that fire over a certain velocity — 152.4 metres or 500 feet per second — are treated just like real firearms. A person needs a license to buy one in a store, and a store needs a license to sell them. Air guns with a velocity below 111.6 metres or 366 feet per second are not considered firearms, and do not require any kind of licensing.
These are the kinds of guns we’ve seen in the media recently. They can be purchased at Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire, or at specialty stores like Halifax Army Navy on Agricola Street, or Better Buy Sports in Burnside.
RCMP also say that any gun, no matter where it falls on the spectrum from real to fake, can be considered a firearm if it’s used in the commission of a crime.
