Malfunctions, maintenance and safe storage

The seventh class starts with a sound. Ferris plays a short recording from a range camera: a string of shots, then a quieter pop that sounds wrong, then silence as the shooter stops, lowers nothing, keeps the pistol pointed at the backstop and raises his other hand. The range officer's voice calls a cease-fire. 'That,' Ferris says, 'is the best thing I have on video. That officer heard a shot that sounded weak, and he stopped. If he had fired again, there was a good chance his pistol would have been badly damaged and he would have been hurt.' The armourer later found a bullet lodged in the barrel. A cartridge had been missing most of its powder, so the bullet had not been pushed all the way out.

This lesson covers three practical parts of firearms responsibility that rarely make the news: what to do when a firearm does not work as expected, how firearms are maintained so that they keep working, and how they are stored so that the wrong person cannot get them. All three are about preventing harm before anyone draws a firearm in a real situation.

When a firearm does not work as expected

A malfunction is any failure of a firearm to work as designed. Modern police firearms are very reliable, but malfunctions still happen, because of ammunition faults, dirt, worn or broken parts, a damaged magazine or the way the firearm is held. Common types include a firearm that does not fire when the trigger is pressed, a spent case that is not thrown clear, a new cartridge that does not feed properly into the chamber, and a weak or unusual shot. Each has different causes, and each is handled in a particular way that instructors teach on the range with the service's firearms.

Whatever the type, the safety principles are the same. Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Take the finger off the trigger. Do not look down the barrel or point the firearm at yourself or anyone else to see what is wrong. On the range, stop, signal the range officer and wait for instructions. On the street, officers are trained in a short procedure for the most common malfunctions, which they practise on the range until it is automatic, but even then the safety rules do not change.

Two situations call for special caution. The first is a shot that sounds or feels weak, like the one in Ferris's recording. A weak shot can mean that a bullet has stuck in the barrel. If another round is fired behind it, the barrel can burst and the shooter and people nearby can be injured. The rule is to stop firing immediately and have the firearm inspected. The second is a cartridge that does not fire when the trigger is pressed. Very occasionally, a cartridge fires a moment late, which is called a hang fire. Firearms safety courses therefore teach shooters to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction for a period after a cartridge fails to fire before doing anything else. On the range, the range officer decides when it is safe to proceed.

Every malfunction on Ferris's range is recorded, along with the firearm's serial number and the ammunition lot. Patterns help find causes. In 2023, three similar malfunctions in a month led Ferris to a batch of magazines with weak springs, which the manufacturer replaced. 'Malfunctions are information,' she says. 'Write them down.'

Maintenance and inspection

Firearms need regular cleaning, lubrication and inspection to keep working reliably. Police services divide this work between officers and armourers. Officers are typically responsible for routine cleaning, following a set procedure, after range sessions and at regular intervals, and for reporting any damage or unusual behaviour at once. Certified armourers, who have been trained by the manufacturer or an equivalent program, inspect every firearm on a schedule, replace worn parts, test function and keep a service record for each firearm.

The safety rules for cleaning are strict, because cleaning is one of the most common moments for unintended discharges outside police work. The firearm is proven unloaded before cleaning starts, all ammunition is removed from the room, the muzzle stays in a safe direction throughout and the firearm is checked again before it is reassembled and reloaded. Many services require cleaning to be done at the station or the range, not at home. Ferris tells the class that she has investigated two cleaning discharges in her career, both by officers who were sure the firearm was empty.

Each due date is the last inspection day plus 180. Comparing it with today, day 300, gives the status: a due day earlier than 300 is overdue by the difference, and a later one is due in the difference.

In the invented records, two firearms have passed the six-month inspection interval and one is close to it. Many services use software that flags overdue inspections automatically, but someone still has to act on the flag.

Ammunition also needs care. Duty ammunition that is carried every day is exposed to heat, cold, moisture, oil from cleaning and handling. Services replace duty ammunition on a schedule, and often use the old ammunition for training, so that the rounds officers carry on duty are always in good condition.

Storage at the station and in transit

Police firearms that are not being carried are stored in ways that make them inaccessible to anyone not authorized. At the station, that means individual lockers or a vault, with keys or codes controlled by the service, and logs showing who took what and when. Long guns in patrol cars are kept in locked racks or cases. When firearms are moved, for example to an outside range or to an armourer, they are transported unloaded in locked cases, with the ammunition separate, and the transfer is recorded.

Storage at home

Most Canadian police services do not allow officers to take duty firearms home, so home storage usually concerns officers' personal firearms. Those are covered by the federal Storage, Display, Transportation and Handling of Firearms by Individuals Regulations, which do not apply to officers acting in the course of their duties but apply fully to their personal firearms. Under those regulations, a restricted firearm, such as most handguns, must be stored unloaded and either made inoperable with a secure locking device and kept in a securely locked container or room that is difficult to break into, or kept in a vault, safe or room built or modified for the purpose. Ammunition must be stored separately and securely unless it is in such a vault, safe or room. Non-restricted firearms have their own rules. Services where officers are authorized to take a firearm home set storage rules at least as strict.

Ferris tells the class about a case from Bay Township, the fictional neighbouring jurisdiction used elsewhere in the program. In 2024, a Bay Township officer travelling to a firearms course in another city left his service pistol in a locked case in his car overnight at a hotel, against his service's transport policy. The car was broken into and the pistol was stolen. It was recovered eight months later during a robbery investigation in another province. The officer was disciplined, and the service changed its rules so that officers travelling with firearms must store them in an approved safe at their destination. 'A police firearm in the wrong hands is one of the worst things that can come out of carelessness,' she says. 'Most of these thefts are from cars.'

Storage, families and suicide risk

Secure storage also protects the people officers live with, and officers themselves. Children and teenagers are curious and may not believe a firearm is real or dangerous, and a firearm that is stored unloaded and locked cannot be reached in a moment of curiosity, conflict or crisis. Research on suicide consistently finds that putting time and distance between a person in crisis and a firearm saves lives, because many suicidal crises are brief and firearms are especially lethal. Police officers face high stress, and like other emergency workers, some experience depression or suicidal thoughts. Secure storage, and the willingness of colleagues and families to ask an officer to let someone else hold their firearms for a while during a difficult time, is part of looking after each other.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, you can call or text 9-8-8 at any time in Canada to reach the Suicide Crisis Helpline. Police services also offer peer support teams and confidential access to clinicians, which Lesson 11 describes.

Reporting losses and thefts

A lost or stolen police firearm must be reported immediately, both inside the service and to the national systems that track stolen firearms, so that the firearm can be identified if it is recovered. Police services enter lost and stolen firearms into the Canadian Police Information Centre, and the theft of a firearm is also reported to the provincial firearms officer as required. The officer responsible writes a detailed report, and the service investigates both the loss and whether policy was followed. Ferris says that the first hour matters most. 'Report it at once, even if you think it might just be misplaced,' she says. 'An embarrassing report is far better than a police pistol on the street with nobody looking for it.'

Storage in patrol cars and during calls

Storage rules also apply during a shift. Long guns stay locked in their racks unless an officer has a reason that meets policy to take them out, and they are returned and locked as soon as that reason ends. A firearm is never left unattended in a patrol car, even for a few minutes, unless it is locked in a rack or secure box designed for the purpose. Officers who go into a hospital, a courthouse or a custody area where firearms are not allowed use the lockboxes provided at the entrance, and they record that they have done so.

Ferris tells the class that the most common storage mistakes she sees are small ones made in a hurry: a rifle rack left unlocked after a call, a spare magazine left on a car seat, a lockbox key left in the lock. Each one is reported and corrected, and patterns lead to changes such as racks that lock automatically when closed. 'Most firearms that go missing go missing during ordinary days,' she says. 'Nobody plans to lose one.'

Desjardins adds that the same discipline applies when officers take temporary custody of other people's firearms, for example during a domestic dispute or a mental health call. Those firearms are made safe by a trained officer, documented, receipted to the owner and stored in the property room under the same controls as evidence until they are returned or a court decides otherwise.