Unlawful Drilling
 

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).

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Unlawful Drilling
 

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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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.

If this worries you...airsoft is not your sport

This came to mind when I read the title :D

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...t_drilling.jpg

First of all, I appreciate all of your replies. Forgive me if I don't touch on all of your posts but I'll try to address all the comments in some way..

Not weird. If they're looking at you and need "anything" to get a grip on you, here's one. Look hard enough and you'll always see what you want to see. Selective enforcing of laws is a huge problem in Canada right now. And to say "never" is not only false, but ignorant.

It's illegal for me to run with a firearm. We're not allowed to pick up an SKS or T97 or whatever, prove it safe (this means unloaded), and perform any kind of drills. By drills I mean running, shooting, dropping, shooting, crawling, shooting, rinse & repeat. But, I can pick up an airsoft T97 and do the same drills? The law isn't about safety of the individual, it is specifically about drills and training. We can train ourselves on airsoft versions of real firearms we may already own, and so this law is flawed and illogical.

Seems to me it is in place to prevent another 1776.

I have a justified reason to be worried. I'm a guy that wants to play airsoft but I also own real versions of some airsoft toys. I don't want to ever get whitewashed by some bureaucrat because I shoot and stockpile ammo and play airsoft.

As a bureaucrat that has written OiCs, I can assure you, that you have absolutely nothing to worry about regarding that piece of law. Call Justice public affairs if you are worried but they will tell you that any forbidding of what you are talking about would require GinC (again, the GG acting on advice from Cabinet) to make it so, and it would be a huge deal.

There are training courses for drills and tactics with M4's, those operate with government approval, and you and your buddies can go to ranges are go practice what you've learned. That could easily be construed as terrorist training, but it's 100% legal.

If you want this to be black and white, then yes it's technically against the law. But what judge is going to convict you of playing a sport? The law isn't black and white and it's not enforced by a robot. There's still a person at the other end that needs to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that you are playing airsoft for the purpose of training to do something illegal.

I've played for years, had plenty of peace officers stop by at games we were running, the police was always 100% aware of what we were doing at any given field.
I've received training from various serving and retired veterans, and from guys that have taken dozens of tactical courses. Obviously I practice and employ everything I've learned.
But it's all for the sake of being proficient at my sport.

Stop trying to make a 20 year old sport illegal just because you misinterpreted a law. You're being paranoid.

What is with these sky-is-falling, airsoft is illegal, threads this year?

It.
Is.
Not.
Against.
The.
Law.

That piece of law states that the Governor in Council MAY issue an OiC that would make those things illegal. That instrument is not in place, and would only be proclaimed in extreme circumstances (Red River Rebellion is a great example, thanks Josh).

He has not and I will bet all the change in my pocket vs all the change in your pocket that he never will have to.

the LZ was a field owned an operated by a member of the ottawa police service.

How much more proof do you want?

I'm happy with that info. I just agree that this topic expressed a concern worth answering.

So to sum it up, if your team or local field arent funded/ran by the local Al-Qaeda recruitmemt cell, or some of your members arent members of or have ties to them and or are not on some type of watch list. You have a far better chance of getting struck by lightning in the same place twice on a clear sunny day while holding a winning lottery ticket.
many of us are on/have been on teams and with our teams (and on our own) we practice shooting, reloading, flanking, leap frogging, line formations.ect.
Noone i know in the community has ever been accused or investigated as a terrorist or something to that effect.
it just plain isnt going to happen without just cause so like.i mentioned if yer funded by or a member of some type of terrorist group, or you want to train airsoft so you can rob a bank or infiltrate some.sort of sensitive governmemt facility your likely gonna raise a flag and open yourself up to being investigated.
if you want to play and have fund slinning plastic at some like minded people on the weekend, no issues should come to you

Thanks for that, you guys. I'm trying not to be paranoid, it is just that where I am from the police are very heavy-handed and "interpretation" isn't their job. At least that's what they keep telling me.

Man here I came to this thread to read about someone drilling for oil in someones backyard illegally, and wondering why it was such a hot topic with so many replies.

Please use better descriptions in titles!!!

where are you from? updated profiles help and give slightly more props to the poster.

etobicoke. And I'll try to put better descriptions in topic fields from now on.

exactly, this is not a sport for the timid lol

The RCMP have the right to seize or ban certain guns on a whim, it doesn't mean that all guns are illegal. The government can mandate military conscription, it doesn't mean you are currently in the armed forces. This is a reactive law, that "can" be aimed in the direction of an specific issue. Think if it like a light switch. If you are in that room, and the switch is on, then there is a problem. As of right now, the switch is off, and you're in a different room. End of story.

If this was an issue I would be typing this from prison

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...BP770HcZG56b51

Busted