Firearms & weapons offences
Charged with a firearms or weapons offence in British Columbia?
Firearms files look overwhelming from the outside — serious language, serious exposure, and police treating the file accordingly. From the inside, they are among the most technical prosecutions in the Criminal Code, and technical prosecutions have technical defences. Here is what you are facing, and where these cases are won.
Exposure on these files is real. Some firearms offences carry the risk of significant jail and lengthy prohibition orders. That is precisely why the file must be tested, not pleaded by default. The seriousness cuts both ways: the Crown has to prove every technical element.
The search question comes first
Most firearms prosecutions begin with a search — of a vehicle, a residence, a person. Every one of those searches has legal requirements, and the requirements are where these files are won. A warrant built on inadequate grounds, a vehicle search that outran its lawful authority, a safety search that became an evidence hunt: where your s. 8 Charter rights were breached, the remedy is exclusion of the evidence, and a firearms case without the firearm is usually no case at all.
The definitions do heavy lifting
What the law calls a firearm, a restricted weapon, a prohibited device, or careless storage is defined technically, and the Crown must prove the item and the conduct meet the definition. Possession itself — knowledge and control — must be proven too, and a gun in a shared vehicle or residence is not automatically yours in law. These elements get conceded far too easily. I do not concede them; I test them.
Licensing and storage files are their own category
A hunter or sport shooter facing a storage or licensing allegation is in a different position than the Crown’s standard framing suggests. Regulatory overlays are complicated, and honest, otherwise-lawful gun owners get charged on technicalities. Context, compliance history, and the actual wording of the regulations matter, and they are the difference between a criminal record and a resolution that protects your licence and your future.
What to do right now
- Say nothing about ownership or knowledge. Possession has legal elements. Do not fill in the Crown’s gaps at the roadside or the station.
- Do not consent to searches. You are entitled to say no. Lawfulness gets litigated later — do not resist, do not assist.
- Write it down. The stop, the entry, the words used, the sequence, the paperwork you were shown. Detail wins these files.
- Gather your documentation. Licences, registrations, storage arrangements, purchase records. Compliance history matters.
- Call. The first conversation is free and confidential.
Talk to Neil before you answer a single question.
Firearms and weapons defence in Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, and across British Columbia. The first call is free and confidential, and you will get a straight read on where you stand.
Common questions
The gun was not mine. Does that help?
It can decide the case. Possession requires proof of knowledge and control beyond a reasonable doubt. A firearm found in a shared car or home is not automatically attributed to you in law.
The police searched without showing me a warrant. Is that the end of it?
No — it may be the beginning of the defence. Whether the search was lawful is usually the central issue in a firearms prosecution, and unlawfully obtained evidence can be excluded.
I am a licensed owner charged over storage. Is this really criminal?
It is charged criminally, but these files frequently resolve in ways that protect your record and licence when they are defended with the regulations and your compliance history in hand. Do not plead to a storage charge by default.
Will I lose my licence and my guns?
Prohibition orders are a real risk on conviction, and some are mandatory. That risk is a reason to defend the file properly, not a reason to give up early. We talk through your actual exposure on the first call.
What does the first call cost?
Nothing. The first conversation is free and confidential. Call (250) 661-1893.