Unlawful Drilling

[Still Beating]

Hi everyone, I'm new to airsoft and have been holding back due to this law I'm aware of.. I'd like to join a team and get some practice and have some fun, but there's this law that concerns me.. Forgive me if this has been covered already, I've tried searching here and found no results aside from a mention in Aug 2008.

Specifically, whats stopping LEOs from arresting an airsoft team, or an individual running drills using an airsoft (obvious replica -- ie. clear receiver, orange muzzle, etc) 'firearm', in regards to #70(1)-a? Because they operate nearly identically and have a so-called transferable skill-set.

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/a...6/page-23.html
Unlawful Drilling
Marginal note:Orders by Governor in Council

70. (1) The Governor in Council may, by proclamation, make orders

(a) to prohibit assemblies, without lawful authority, of persons for the purpose

(i) of training or drilling themselves,

(ii) of being trained or drilled to the use of arms, or

(iii) of practising military exercises; or

(b) to prohibit persons when assembled for any purpose from training or drilling themselves or from being trained or drilled.
Marginal note:General or special order

(2) An order that is made under subsection (1) may be general or may be made applicable to particular places, districts or assemblies to be specified in the order.
Marginal note:Punishment

(3) Every one who contravenes an order made under this section is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 70;
1992, c. 1, s. 60(F).

[Danke]

Well first of all the Governor General would have to have made a proclamation forbidding assembly.

Has that happened and I just didn't notice?

[Drunk_Albertan]

There was a WW2 reenacting group quite a few years back that got shut down by the RCMP because of I'm assuming these laws. They classified them as a "militia", and therefore they were forced to disband.

[scottyfox]

Uh... yeah. You would hear about it very quickly on the news.

Governor in Council just means the GG acting on the recommendation of Cabinet. It's a pretty big deal.
So to answer your question, whats stopping the RCMP? His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston.

[Ricochet]

This is not the case with airsoft, and it is a law that is there to serve a purpose. There are plenty of interest groups in Canada that do tactical training, using military methods and gear, as well as live fire. Many police, military, and civilians belong to these groups, and conduct themselves within the law. Airsoft isn't even likely on their radar. Firstly, they would have to identify "you" or your "group" as some form of threat to the public, or threat to security. Likely this would mean you're already being monitored for some end game plan they assume you have based on Intel. They then put forth an order for you and/or your group to desist any further actions towards this end, or restrictions based on the quantifiable threat or concern. If you continue, you will be in breach and will likely be arrested, charged, and convicted.

A bunch of guys playing airsoft, which is a legally accepted and sanctioned game the same as paintball, is not the above. If they were using it as a training platform to pull off some kind of attack, well then there is a problem, but the airsoft guns themselves are the least of their concerns. If I were you, I'd be more interested in how local by-laws affect your ability to play. Things like discharging airguns, firearms, etc, within city limits. That sort of thing.

Doing sudo-combat simulation while trying to have fun would be severely overshadowed by martial arts training or sport shooting, etc, both of which and related are perfectly legal. Many laws like this, such a mischief or criminal negligence, have an open ended meaning, and are used as a tool in unprecedented situations, or situations that do not have a consistent theme.

[ThunderCactus]

We're playing a sport, the sport HAPPENS to use a device which resembles and to a limited extent acts like a real firearm.
MILSIM paintball isn't illegal, and it's well known, falls under the same category as airsoft as far as I'm concerned.

If they were really worried about it, stands to reason they'd of made airsoft guns illegal.

[Kokanee]

That law is in place to prevent another "Red River Rebellion", not to stop people from shooting each other with plastic on the weekends.

As Ricochet said, you would have to be seen as a threat to the public order to get on anyone's radar.

I would caution you against "joining a team" right from the get go. That's not necessary to get into the sport, and on the contrary can actually pigeonhole you into buying gear you don't really want, or restrict your ability to attend events.

There are awesome teams out there, in fact most are. But you need time to learn the sport and get to know the local players in your area BEFORE you get on a team. Any team that blindly accepts new players without getting to know them first is a GIANT alarm bell.

Get out there and sling some plastic, it's all good.

[ThunderCactus]

On that note, I've known a dozen players that straight up joined a team before getting to know anyone and that ruined the first year or two of their hobby. They were all ecstatic once they left the constrains of their team to play freely.
It was one of those team that recruited blindly as well.

[pusangani]

Lol people think like this, like some random law that never gets enforced that isn't in effect that might somehow maybe kinda sorta affect you is preventing you from joining an activity lol you knew enough to come to this site but somehow there was a disconnect between your weird paranoia and the reality that Airsoft actually exists in canada and is enjoyed by a huge community I don't even what

[siggypoo]

I didn't know about this, and I thought it safer and wiser to ask than to assume.

[FreelancerInc]

i'd like to point out that many police officers, military personel ect ect play this sport. unless they are all "dirty" or "unlawful" we shouldn't have to worry

[HackD]

If it was to have ever been put into use in recent times - it would be in this case, even if to just stack on the charges.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_On...terrorism_plot


It wasn't.

[redneck12]

Let me guess, you just got a shiny new Criminal Code and just had to bust it out to see whats what lol don't worry I am sure we all have done it. Like it was already said, you have to be purposely using your airsoft team to train to over throw the government or take over a military facility before they even think about that charge in relation to airsoft. There has been several cases outside of airsoft where it could have been used but wasn't so I am sure its a dusty forgotten law.

[Fuzzy]

This is not a law against training. It's a law granting powers to make a specific order to prohibit military type training. I'm not aware of any such order being made. I can see I being used for suspected terrorist training. I doubt it would be applied for Airsoft.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Janus]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

A bunch of guys playing airsoft, which is a legally accepted and sanctioned game the same as paintball, is not the above. If they were using it as a training platform to pull off some kind of attack, well then there is a problem, but the airsoft guns themselves are the least of their concerns.

This HAS happened. Remember those douchebags back in 2006 or so in Toronto who were using paintball to train? Same cell that had the plan to hit the GO train.

CSIS was so far up in their business that they actually came around fields as far as Windsor and inquired about people doing just that. The old WAC got to do a little demo about airsoft guns for them. Needless to say, it's 2014 and your average airsoft community is chugging along nicely without worry of arrest.