[Flash Walken]

During an appearance Tuesday at the House of Commons justice committee, Nicholson agreed with a question from Tory backbencher Brian Jean that firing a warning shot over the head of a repeat thief coming onto a rural property to steal an all-terrain vehicle would be ``reasonable'' under the circumstances.

His comments were not welcomed by groups representing the legal profession and front-line police officers.

Eric Gottardi of the Canadian Bar Association said it was ``particularly unfortunate'' that Nicholson chose to endorse even the concept of warning shots _ especially at a time when the government is expanding the notion of citizen's arrests.

Jean, a Fort McMurray lawyer, said in an interview Thursday that brandishing a weapon was the kind of thing that happened when he was growing up in the rough northern Alberta resource city.

But people who raised guns or fired them to ward off thieves often ended up before the courts, said the Tory MP, which usually found such use of force was not reasonable.

``I think that is reasonable now, to be able to take a step beyond what you would expect others to do,'' said Jean.

Representatives of the CBA and the Canadian Police Association told the justice committee Thursday that increasing the latitude for citizen's arrests could endanger the public.

Jean, part of the Conservative majority on the committee, said the witnesses seemed to be saying ``there was a duty so step away and allow people to steal things.''

``I don't think that duty exists. I don't think it's ever existed and I think it's ludicrous.''

Asked about Nicholson's comments on warning shots, Jean responded: ``I actually think this legislation will clarify the law for Canadians and it'll make criminals stay away. I think criminals will take it more seriously now.''

While criminals might be deterred by the increased prospect of meeting a gun-toting property owner, Jean did not agree that gun owners will be emboldened by the very same law.

``To go to the next step and take a weapon out and fire it is a big, big step for people, even in rural Alberta. People don't do that,'' said Jean.

``They don't brandish weapons that are loaded at anybody. And I would suggest very, very few people would fire a weapon. And a lot fewer would fire at somebody trying to run away.''

Jean added that shooting over the head of a fleeing thief is out of bounds.

``Firing a weapon at somebody that's trying to escape with a quad (ATV), that's not acceptable. That is not reasonable in the circumstances. And I can't imagine any judge in any province or territory in this country agreeing that would be a reasonable use of force or a reasonable defence of property.''

http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/...cted-intruders

The Canadian Bar Association said Nicholson is sending a bad message in a very nuanced area of the law.

Eric Gottardi, vice-chair of the CBA’s criminal justice section, called it “particularly unfortunate” that the minister chose to endorse even the concept of warning shots.

“All it’s going to take is someone to shoot 10 inches too low in the dark and take someone’s head off and that person is going to be up on murder charges,” said Gottardi.

“They’re going to be looking to the minister and looking to this law to protect them. We don’t think it’s a good idea.”

The new law broadens the rules for citizen’s arrest and self-defence, said the Vancouver lawyer.

“I would think that the last thing the government wants is to even have a perception out there in the public that people now have this much broader, more robust set of protections to make arrests or take extreme measures to defend their property.”

Opposition MPs agreed.

“Shooting a gun over their heads is essentially threatening to shoot them,” said NDP justice critic Jack Harris. “That seems to me to be unreasonable.”

“We’ve got to be very cautious that we don’t encourage any sense of vigilantism in this country,” said Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister.

Tom Stamatakis, the president of the Canadian Police Association, said the front-line officers he represents always want people to call police first for any threat.

“As an ex-firearms instructor and someone that’s very familiar with firearms, one of the most important things to consider when you are handling a firearm or discharging a firearm is to know where any round that you fire may end up,” Stamatakis said of warning shots.

“I don’t think the preferred approach is to encourage citizens to take matters into their own hands.”

But Gary Mauser, a firearms expert and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University, doesn’t believe Nicholson overstepped the bounds or sent a bad signal.

“The opposition is quite right to focus on the delicate balance that the Crown must take with respect to self defence, citizen’s powers of arrest and the powers of the law,” Mauser said in an interview.

But he pointed out the scenario of someone facing an attacking intruder in the dark and the “natural human right” to stop that attack.

“Exactly the details of such cases is what the knife-edge of legality depends upon,” said Mauser.

https://globalnews.ca/news/209093/ef...rning-shots-2/