Police informant Noel Harder claims he carried loaded handgun on advice of senior Saskatoon police

Noel Harder says a bad vibe about a deal over a used TV prompted the one-time police informant to pack a loaded handgun, mace, an axe and a knife in his SUV in late September.

"It felt like a set-up so he armed himself," said Harder's defence lawyer, Linh Pham, on Friday after Harder's bail hearing at provincial court in Saskatoon.

The 39-year-old was arrested Sept. 25 in the Sutherland neighbourhood after a pedestrian spotted a man in the driver's seat of a Range Rover "racking" a handgun — meaning pulling back its slide to ready it to fire.

When police arrived, they came upon Harder behind the wheel.

As a result, the one-time star witness for the prosecution in the Project Forseti drug trials — who has also launched a lawsuit against the RCMP after being kicked out of the Witness Protection Program — is now in custody facing 26 drug and weapons charges. 

​Prosecutor Evan Thompson said it was the presence of the loaded nine-millimetre Glock handgun, with a bullet in the chamber, that is troublesome. Harder has a lifetime firearms prohibition.

"There was a gun loaded with a bullet in the chamber in a vehicle in a residential neighbourhood," he said.

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Pham said that Harder had the "honest but mistaken belief" that he was allowed to carry a gun.

Further, the defence lawyer said that Harder had been advised by senior Saskatoon Police officers to arm himself. The officers also advised he get the proper training and paperwork to do that, Pham said.

"The question is, why did he have that handgun," Pham said outside court.

"I always compare this situation to the farmer defending his farm. We would suggest that this is no different than an individual that is resorting to protecting himself, his family and his belongings."

Thompson said it did not inspire confidence that Harder claimed he would not use the loaded handgun "unless he felt it was necessary."

The judge will decide whether Harder makes bail on Oct. 16.