Firearm Safety and Storage

Just the mention of C-68 is enough to raise the hackles of Canada’s responsible gun owners.  But politics aside, it’s hard to argue with the intent of the safe storage and transportation notions that the bill advocates.  Even more important is that much of this thinking is based on input from sporting arms groups with the intent of insuring that firearms are safely stored and don’t fall into the hands of undesirables.

Bill C-68 states that a non-restricted firearm be stored unloaded and must be locked up or deactivated (i.e. stored in a locked cabinet, have a trigger lock, or have the bolt removed.)
When transporting a firearm it must be unloaded, locked, and kept locked in the trunk of your car.  Or, if this is not possible, out of site and locked in the vehicles interior.

There are a wide variety of locking devices on the market ranging from the $20 mark to several thousand dollars.  Starting at the low end of the scale you have a variety of trigger guard locks that are designed to easily fit over the trigger preventing the trigger from being pulled.  These are available in both key lock and combination lock versions.  There are also locks designed to loop through the action of your rifle or gun preventing the action from closing.

A gun collector or someone with a license to own restricted firearms may well want to consider the additional security that a gun safe can offer, while the average hunter may simply want to ensure that their firearms are securely locked away in a lower cost, yet very functional cabinet when not in use.  And, of course, be sure to keep your keys or combination to your cabinet in a secure location as well.

Remember, that you and you alone are responsible for the safe storage of your firearms…24 hours a day, so do your part to keep our hunting heritage safe and accident free.