Angry in the Great White North

This is one of those head-shaking what-were-they-thinking moments.

Imagine the Ontario government authorizing its agents to enter the premises of your home without a warrant to see if you've been breaking the law.

That's it. They come in, poke around, take anything away they find that they don't like, and report you to the police if necessary.

The creepiest thing about this is how it will be done with a smile.

The target? Elderly gun owners:

The provincial gun regulator will begin inspecting the homes of older gun owners in Toronto to ensure they are storing their firearms safely, an initiative one sporting association said amounts to "harassing" seniors.

Ontario's Chief Firearms Office says it is responding to concerns raised by Toronto police, which have in the past been called to the homes of gun owners who had either died or been hospitalized and did not have their registered firearms securely stored. In some cases, the guns were found lying around. Authorities worry they could get into the wrong hands.

"This is a very real public safety concern," Ontario's Chief Firearms Officer Chris Wyatt wrote in a letter to the Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA), which is against the idea.

The Chief Firearms Office says it is exercising its right, under the Firearms Act, to inspect homes where there are more than 10 firearms, including a restricted or prohibited gun.

It is targeting owners who are 75 years or older. The office has sent letters to 48 owners in Toronto advising them of the upcoming inspections, which will be prearranged.

According to the letter from Superintent Chris Wyatt, Ontario's Chief Firearms Officer, it is all very reasonable:

The Firearms Act provides for a firearms officer, designated in writing by the Chief Firearms Officer, the authority to conduct inspections in certain circumstances, including where the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that there is a firearms collection, a prohibited firearm or more than 10 firearms. Where the inspection involves a dwelling house, the Firearms Act requires the inspector provide reasonable notice and obtain the occupant’s consent. The Firearms Act also requires the owner or person in charge of a place to give the inspector reasonable assistance to enable him to carry out the inspection.

The following guidelines will be used in conducting inspections:

• The date and time of the inspection will be at a time agreeable to the owner or occupant.
• The inspector will identify himself to the owner or occupant using a badge and photo identification provided by the Chief Firearms Office.
• All firearms registered to the owner or occupant will be inspected.
• No force will be used in conducting the inspection.
• A receipt will be issued to the firearms owner for any item taken by the inspector during the inspection.
• Where evidence is found of a criminal offence e.g., failing to report a lost or stolen firearm, that evidence will be turned over to the police agency of jurisdiction for their appropriate action.
• Where unregistered prohibited or restricted firearm(s) are found, they may be seized and turned over to the police agency of jurisdiction for their appropriate action.
• The Chief Firearms Office will work with owners to ensure compliance. Firearms owners, who have been notified of an upcoming inspection, have been provided a contact name and number of a firearms officer should they require information or assistance.

So let's pause to get this straight. If an inspector has reason to believe a person owns guns, and that person is old and could die soon, or might just be really forgetful because of his advanced age, that is sufficient grounds to search that person's residence for evidence of a crime.

Which crime?

Don't know and don't care. When we find evidence of one, you'll know because it'll be on the warrant issued by the police when we tell them of what we found poking around your basement.

I like how they're targeting the elderly. They're not likely to fight back so much. Or maybe the thinking is that if one of them initiated a Charter challenge, he might not live long enough to see it through.

Now the CFO says the issue here is public safety. Indeed, everything about this is wrapped up in sugary sweet words like "education" and "charitable":

In an interview yesterday, Ontario's Deputy Chief Firearms Officer, Tony Cooper, described the project as a one-on-one educational awareness campaign and assured that inspectors would use discretion when going into homes.

"We have ways of bringing people into compliance without criminal charges," said Mr. Cooper, who said inspectors are "charitable" with individuals who make honest mistakes.

"These guys aren't members of the Crips," said Mr. Cooper, an inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police who was seconded to the Firearms Office.

Call it what you want. The abrogation of your Charter right against unreasonable search and seizure is the reward law-abiding Canadians have earned for complying with registration requirements for firearms.

Meanwhile drug-dealing members of gangs can rest assured that only a warrant can authorize the police to go into their apartments to take their automatic weapons away.

Consider this for a monent. What if there is evidence of another crime uncovered during the inspection? Say a small grow-op in the basement beside the gun locker. Does the Firearms Inspector report that to the police as well? Is such evidence admissable? If not, do the police use that information to target that person, waiting for a legal excuse to arise to kick in the door and so avoid the admissability question?

Does refusing an inspection draw attention to that person? What is he hiding?

How far does the inspection go? The letter states "where unregistered prohibited or restricted firearm(s) are found, they may be seized and turned over to the police agency of jurisdiction for their appropriate action." But where do you find unregistered firearms? The FO has checked the gun locker and has determined that all rules are followed for the registered firearms? By definition, an unregistered firearm is illegal and the owner is not likely to keep it in the gun locker for the FO to find. If one exists, it must be somewhere else in the house. Maybe it's under the bed, or in the attic, or in a dresser drawer. Frozen in a plastic baggie in the back of the freezer -- let's thaw out the contents of the freezer to be certain. What about hidden inside of a hollowed out book? The garage or in the car? Maybe there's a trapdoor under the rug. If could be under the couch -- it shouldn't be too hard to start moving furniture around.

How often must someone submit to an inspection? At least once a year? Monthly? Weekly? Does the number of inspections go up as the gun owner's health declines? And after the gun owner passes away? Immediately after the funeral? During the wake?

Remember that it is the CFO who tests the reasonableness of the FO's suspicions and reasonableness of the request to conduct an inspection. It is the CFO that signs off on the FO's request to conduct an inspection. Gun owners have to depend on the CFO to protect their rights and their privacy.

But don't feel uncomfortable about this. It's all for your safety:

Mark Pugash, a spokesman for the Toronto Police Service, said police have recovered weapons that were stolen from homes where they were improperly secured.

"Any steps that would make firearms more secure, that would make it more difficult for people to steal them and use them to commit violence is something we would all welcome," he said.

Any steps? No, we don't welcome any steps. Just constitutional ones. I don't want to live in a police state where any action by the police and other authorities is acceptable as long as it ensures compliance with the law.

I can't believe a police spokesman would say something like that. It is the classic "the ends justifies the means" argument used by dictators and thugs throughout history.

But it's for our own good.

The path to hell is paved with good intentions.