Garett Williams

From here on out, it is a waiting game. More than five years have passed since Bruce Montague was arrested with an unregistered firearm slung over his shoulder at a Dryden gun show in September 2004. In the time since, his constitutional challenge of the federal firearm registry was dismissed and he and his wife have been convicted of a combined nearly-30 firearm related charges.

Upon conviction on 26 of the more than 50 charges faced, the former gunsmith and competition shooter was sentenced to 18 months in custody, handed a lifetime firearm ban and spent more than 25 days behind bars before being released on bail pending an appeal that was heard in a Toronto courtroom Thursday.

Some 60 supporters rallied outside the Ontario Court of Appeal, according to Montague, before packing standing-room only into the courtroom to hear attorney Doug Christie argue “Canadians have a fundamental right to self-protection, which entails the right to possess effective tools for that purpose,” said an article posted on Montague’s website.

He argued “the constitutional heritage of Canada gives citizens the right to security of person through section 7 of the (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), rights which the court has an obligation to uphold against infringements by Parliament.”

Christie also pointed out errors in the trial leading to the Montagues’ conviction, including “inflammatory” remarks surrounding Montague’s mental state.

The Crown was “basically trying to knock my sanity levels,” Montague said Thursday from Toronto, “basically saying ‘this guy’s not stable, he’s not sane,’ trying to slander me that way.”

The argument was heard by Justice Michael Moldaver, Justice James MacPherson and Justice Eleanore Cronk and was completed in less than two hours. The Crown’s response was submitted in about halfhour, according to Montague’s website.

Surrounded by supporters singing hymns after the hearing, Montague, who can no longer work as a gunsmith, said his criminal record has made him “basically unemployable” but he’s committed to challenging the registry.

“In many ways, its worse than being in jail,” he said. “If I went to jail and served my sentence, it would have been done a long time ago. In a sense, I’m in a prison right now because I haven’t got the freedom to go get a job, I can’t move, I can’t go anywhere else. I’m not quite under house arrest but (there is a) very strict control about where I can go.”

The Justices anticipated their decision would be released shortly, according to Montague’s site.

Link: http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.ca/...