3. Understand preventative prohibition orders
Question & Answer
Can the court stop me from having a gun or weapon?Section 111 of the Criminal Code lets the court give you a preventative . If an officer has to believe it’s not in the interest of public safety for you to have a weapon, they can apply for a preventive weapons order. This includes peace officers, firearms officers, and chief firearms officers.
What the order means
The prohibition order may be for the following types of weapons:
- firearm
- crossbow
- prohibited weapon
- restricted weapon
- prohibited device
- prohibited ammunition
- explosive substance
It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve committed a crime. It doesn’t matter whether you have a licence for weapons you currently have. If the officer thinks it’s in the interests of public safety, they can ask for you to be given a preventative weapons prohibition order.
Most preventative orders are given to a person who doesn’t have a weapon. The order is issued to prevent that person from getting a weapon in the future.
What the police can do
If you’re already licensed to have weapons, the police can get a to search for weapons and take any they find if they are concerned about public safety.
If the police take weapons from you because they are concerned about public safety, they can apply for disposition of the weapons they took. They can also ask the court to issue a prohibition order so that you can’t get your weapons back.
