Canadian Airgun Forum

Doing some research I just found out that if you want to get down to brass tacks, pretty much every airgun and almost all air soft guns (I'm assuming the ones that work via a pin mechanism are fine) and heck even some paintball guns in Halifax/Dartmouth are illegal...

You're only permitted to buy/sell/keep an air gun for the strictly intended purpose of firing it on an approved firing range..
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Halifax County Municipality By-law 08 - Mischiefs & Nuisances - Halifax Regional Municipality

Halifax County Municipality By-law 08

Air Guns and Sling Shots

5. No person shall buy, sell or keep any air rifle, air gun or sling

shot.

5A. Section 5 shall not apply to

(i) the keeping of an air rifle or air gun for the sole purpose of

being used on a firing range approved by the Minister of Justice;

(ii) the keeping of CO2 powered paint marking devices in and the

transporting of same to those areas of the Municipality identified

and described in Schedule "B".

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Of course... this means all my guns are solely for use on 'approved' ranges...

I have heard that several other Nova scotian counties have disgustingly stupid laws that follow that note, but can not find them online.

Does anyone know of any for Queens county or lunenburg county?

I'm not poaching small game, or looking to. however I want to find a secluded place to set up a 100 yard range. I also want to find out the legality of continuing to use a range I have at my cottage which is on the border of lunenburg and queens county.

If anyone has any instant links that affirm the existence of regulations; it will save my up-coming awkward phone calls to the RCMP and the counties to try and determine the legality of my air guns (all my guns are sub-pal).

Here are the bylaws of the district of lunenberg. I'm not sure whether this coincides with the county exactly.
http://www.modl.ca/66_municipal_by-laws/view_category.html
None of the bylaws appears to refer to firearms or other general prohibitions.

The regional municipality of Queens has a bylaw on firearms. Again, I don't know whether these bylaws cover the whole county.
http://www.regionofqueens.com/index.asp?id=51



Notice the word "Town" in the restriction. I'm not sure how this is interpretted. However, it is pretty amazing that this bylaws was apparently passed in 1897.

I hope this helps.

pellet gun- approved range- my nearest approved range is 1 hour away!
i have cool neighbors and live in what used to be hfx county. even when i lived in the city i shot my pellet gun in my garage and back yard keeping in mind i have neighbors and to "be cool".

i'm sure using fireworks would be prohibited- so are chickens!!! i have never heard of any one being killed by a chicken! (ok- slightly off point , i know!)

i guess what i am trying to say is i recognize some need for that law being there- as it give the police some teeth if someone is being stupid. i support the police in their efforts to make our homes and world a safe place to live. And i hope that if i ever have a problem- they will see that i am a reasonable person , who safely and respectfully uses his air guns on his own property. I am going by the assumption that they will see that i am an adult that respect other people, myself, and the law, and treat this law for what it probably should be used for- idiots waving around air guns in the city core , scaring or treating their neighbors and being A$$holes.

i work with the volunteer fire dept. we have gone on calls that by the very letter of the law- a tiny camp fire, or someones burning permit should be put or or revoked- but if "any reasonable person" would look at the situation- they would see that the burning is going on in a very responsible, supervised and sober way so...in those cases..... well ... i'll just leave that saying...you figure it out.

and in saying that- remember that police have a huge amount a discretion at their disposal.

speeding ticket example- you could be given a warning or no ticket at all OR you could be given a speeding ticket, your care ripped apart looking fro drugs, towed away because it fails some small part of the motor vehicular laws that is always over looked, you charged with dangerous and imprudent drives, unsafe motor vehicle operation, street racing ect ... see what i'm getting at???

but i go by "what a reasonable person" would think and act.
does the gov actually actually think that some one who live 6 miles in the woods and 7 miles from any neighbors in St Margarets bay (but still in the greater hfx city) not go out in there back yard and shoot a legal air gun or paintball gun?

there are probaly5 paintball feilds that are inside greater halifax- that have up 3-400 people playing at one time (inside city limits)- . go figure that one out!

i'm not a lawyer but - i would say- if the respect and concer you show here is used while setting up and operation your back yard range- you should have no problem at all (providing you niebours are too close or un reasonable)

good luck bro.

ps- what are the penelties for Air Guns and Sling Shots not used at a public rife range.

for craps sake- i am supposed to phone dept of natural resources and book the range to use my sling shot?
they would laugh!!!!
hello
book range- yes
type of gun? sling shot?
ammo and aprox# or rounds- lots of small peices of gravel
laughter then dial tone????

_________________
my other coil is a sub ohm
sub 500 .22 Crosman Phantom 500 open sites
sub 500 .177 Crosman TR77 NPS 4-16x40 UTG
sub 500 .177 Hatsan mod 33 with Quattro trigger open sites

The fire works are ‘technically illegal’... which is why till a few years ago you could only buy them from a few licensed dealers... then they decided you could buy them everywhere... but still not use them almost anywhere... I feel like we are the butt of a very strange joke


Total agreeance with you, I had the fire department called on me twice for melting metals in my back yard. The chief and I had a little talk he said while yes there is that permanent fire ban, because of people smoking their neighbours out with tiny fire places... he didn’t mind what I was doing and that he was going to get really pissed at the people who kept calling him the next time they called with a BS story about fire balls and the end of the world that was apparently taking place in my back yard...(I kind wish their reports were true, sounded exciting!)


And I'm assuming that MOST officers would be the same. I'd still like to stay totaly legal. It's like the old well.... 'so what if my gun shoots 600FPS...who's going to check?' I just like to stay on the clear side of it all, because there ARE the occasional officers out there who WILL throw the book at you just to hear the sound it makes bouncing off you head. (kind of a dull thunk/splat)



Ironically the chickens issue comes from the same set of regulations… go figure…


just under the pellet gun stuff

Even more confusing is while you are not allowed to 'keep, sell or buy' them... you are allowed to safely shoot them on private property…

Or at least you are specifically not allowed to shot them illegally on other peoples property in a dangerous manner… this is so…so…so… Halifax


About mid page it gives out penalties for a given section of a fine of not less then 100$ and not more then 2000$. But I'm unsure if it is referring to the pawn brokerage stuff that came before it, or the whole law.

My current home range is in my basement, and is as safe as possible.

It's my cottage range that I'm really concerned about. While it is set up very safely with a very wide angle of visibility and a pellet proof/miss proof back stop, there are a few irate highly ignorant cottage owners in the general area that love to snoop around (I think the legal word is 'trespass') looking for things to report.

I don’t want them to hear shots (the 2240 is pretty ‘bangy’) or see the backboard and then call in the law just to have the cops arrive in a bad mood and discover that yes I am breaking a law. (After talking to these people… anyone would be in a bad mood).

For my 100 yard range I suppose I could just burrow back deep enough into the woods that I’d be completely out of range of anyone’s attention… but I have run into conservation officers in the area, I’d hate to have to prove I am not out in the woods blasting blue jays and song birds.

In anycase I feel really tempted to call up the range and go off firing my sling shot too

We could have a sling shot day where we rent out the whole range and all try to hit things with slingshots… I call the pointy rocks!

It would be fun to ask HRM how many people have registered at the local range to fire their sling shots VS how many sling shots has Canadian tire sold…. But that would be opening a can of worms…

Thanks for the luck

Good news!

I did some more digging, HRM repealed the county laws in 2007

At the bottom it indicated the repealed by-laws

2007 updated list of By-laws

the sections on air guns were removed

Well at least that is cheery news!!

Especially because if you re-read the original it made sling shots illegal period, it did not offer them the exception of being used on a range...

i have a feeling tthis applies to the Old City of Halifax, i.e. Halifax city limits.
this could not possibly span the entire 130 KM span of Halifax Regional Municipality.
someone should confirm this

If you read the top of each bill it does seem to be the case, though I would welcome further proof/disproof.

The HRM bill states that it is for the municipality, which is this area.

Thoughts?

The original bill explicitly listed HRM, as well as all of the old townships, and said it was in affect in those which upheld it. The old townships no longer exist... so I'm assuming it is about all of HRM.

Thanks! Weird.. your post showed up long after quickreplies post did, at least for me.

Our town put in a new discharge bylaw a few years ago. About 300 of us showed up at town council to protest. Our sports club had "for hunting" added in the clause. Which now means you just can't hunt within town limits. So I can continue to shoot my bows in backyard (Target shooting) and bowfishing (fishing) at the harbour. It would more than likely be a local bylaw if anything. But I did talk to all three nabours just so when they see me they know. I have an eight foot fenced backyard. I stand at fence line and shoot at my house. CHEERS!

I'd write to the NS CFO and ask them for the rules and regulations for air rifle range...

When they discuss ranges, they are talking about already approved ranges. To be approved, the CFO (or designate) comes out for an inspection.
They may or may not have a list of 'regulations' for ranges to establish. These are federal.

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Best Wishes
Daryl