Bill 24 explained in plain English
Prohibiting Driving with Unlawful Handguns Act, 2014
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 24, the Prohibiting Driving with Unlawful Handguns Act, 2014, establishes new offences, penalties, and enforcement measures under the Highway Traffic Act and Civil Remedies Act, 2001, for driving with an unlawfully possessed handgun in a motor vehicle.
This bill amends the Highway Traffic Act and the Civil Remedies Act, 2001 to create new offences and penalties related to driving a motor vehicle with an unlawfully possessed handgun. It introduces measures for immediate licence suspension and vehicle impoundment when an offence is suspected. It also allows for vehicle forfeiture under certain conditions. The intention is to enhance public safety.
- Creates a new offence under the Highway Traffic Act for driving a motor vehicle with an unlawfully possessed handgun.
- Establishes penalties for this offence, including fines, imprisonment, and driver's licence suspension.
- Authorizes police officers to request the surrender of a driver's licence and detain a vehicle when an offence is suspected.
- Mandates a seven-day administrative suspension of the driver's licence and a seven-day administrative impoundment of the vehicle.
- Amends the Civil Remedies Act, 2001, to allow for the forfeiture of vehicles involved in this new offence.
- Ensures that administrative impoundment periods run concurrently with other administrative impoundments under the Highway Traffic Act.
- Defines "handgun" and "unlawfully possessed handgun" for the purposes of the Highway Traffic Act.
- Amends several sections of the Highway Traffic Act to include the new offence number (172.2) in references to other sections.
- Allows regulations to be made regarding record-keeping for licence suspensions and vehicle impoundments, and for exemptions from certain provisions.
- Drivers of motor vehicles in Ontario.
- Owners of motor vehicles in Ontario.
- Police officers.
- The Attorney General.
- The Registrar of motor vehicles.
- Individuals who possess handguns illegally.
- The court system.
- Drivers are prohibited from driving a motor vehicle with an unlawfully possessed handgun.
- Drivers must surrender their licence and vehicles may be impounded upon reasonable grounds for belief of an offence.
- Owners may bring action against a driver to recover costs incurred due to vehicle impoundment.
- Police officers have the duty to request licence surrender and detain vehicles under certain circumstances.
- Vehicles may be subject to forfeiture under the Civil Remedies Act, 2001.
- Individuals have the right to have impounded vehicles released after the impoundment period and payment of costs, unless other conditions apply.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Fines ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 for an offence.
- Costs for vehicle removal and impoundment are the responsibility of the owner.
- Potential costs for vehicle forfeiture.
- Fines ranging from $200 to $5,000 for obstructing a police officer.
- Fines of not less than $2,000 and not more than $10,000, or imprisonment for up to six months, or both, for driving with an unlawfully possessed handgun.
- Driver's licence suspension for one year for a first conviction, five years for a second, and indefinitely for a third subsequent conviction.
- Seven-day administrative suspension of the driver's licence upon request by a police officer.
- Seven-day administrative impoundment of the vehicle upon detention by a police officer.
- Fines of not less than $200 and not more than $5,000, or imprisonment for up to six months, or both, for obstructing a police officer.
- Vehicle forfeiture under the Civil Remedies Act, 2001.
- The specific date the Act comes into force is not yet proclaimed.
- The exact number of subsequent convictions that trigger escalating licence suspension periods is defined, but the application of these periods is subject to court proceedings.
- The ability for a police officer to release a vehicle before impoundment or early release is at the officer's discretion if the vehicle is believed to be stolen.
- The determination of "reasonable and probable grounds" for a police officer's actions is not further defined in the text.
- Regulations may be made that could further define or exempt certain classes of persons or vehicles.
- Forfeiture orders under the Civil Remedies Act, 2001 are subject to court discretion and not being "clearly not in the interests of justice."
Adds a new section (172.2) making it an offence to drive a motor vehicle with an unlawfully possessed handgun, and modifies several existing sections to include references to this new offence.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18
Amends the definition of "vehicular unlawful activity" to include contraventions of the new section 172.2 of the Highway Traffic Act, and adds provisions allowing for vehicle forfeiture if the vehicle is used in or owned by someone whose licence was suspended for this offence.
Source: Sections 9, 10, 11
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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