Crown Attorney Peter Keen had his first opportunity to address Bruce Montague’s constitutional challenge in Kenora Superior court on Wednesday.

By Garett Williams
Miner and News
Thursday October 25, 2007

Crown Attorney Peter Keen had his first opportunity to address Bruce Montague’s constitutional challenge in Kenora Superior court on Wednesday.

Keen began by arguing it is not an absolute right to own firearms in Canada.

If there was a right, it has always been subject to parliamentary intervention, such as the restriction on people seen as a threat to public security not being able to own or obtain a firearm, he said.

Section 26 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the basis for Montague’s challenge, guarantees certain rights and freedoms don’t deny the existence of other rights and freedoms.

There is no constitutional right to the possession of a firearm in Canada and the application has to be dismissed based on that, Keen said. Just because a right is addressed in the Charter, it isn’t automatically elevated to the constitutional level, he added.

He cited property rights, a common law right that is not elevated to a constitutional right based on the Charter, as an example, saying there is an enormous difference between saying “we’re not throwing away all the other rights you have” and elevating every right to the constitutional level.

Keen addressed the claim of Montague’s lawyer Doug Christie that restrictions on how and where guns are stored infringe on the right to personal security, arguing that having guns readily available is more of a threat, to more people. “If you’ve got loaded gun, not properly stored, someone who breaks into your house can shoot you with it,” Keen said. “Your children could start playing with it and shoot you.”

Earlier in the day, Christie gave revisions he wants made to the act if it is not stricken out, including fines, as opposed to mandatory sentences for first time offenders, proof of intent to commit an indictable offence when accused of tampering with a gun’s registration number and licences and restrictions limited to people outside their house, saying the sanctity of a home should be recognized.

We can trust an individual in a free and democratic society to act responsibly in their own home, he said. “We don’t need mother state to do that.”

Montague is charged with 53 counts of weapons-related offences, including the unauthorized possession and careless storage of non-restricted and restricted firearms. His wife, Donna Montague is facing three charges -- the unauthorized possession of a firearm and two counts of careless storage of a firearm.

Their Charter application is seeking to strike out sections of the Criminal Code of Canada related to the Firearms Act, to have their criminal charges dismissed and to have the Firearms Act declared unconstitutional.

The Crown will finish its submission Thursday morning.

Link: http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/...