A man who took a slug gun into a counselling session is on bail after pleading guilty to unlawfully carrying an imitation firearm in Tauranga District Court today.

Police say Karlin Arapeta Gibson, 22, from Welcome Bay, was attending drug and alcohol counselling in town on September 1, when he pulled out the imitation Beretta slug pistol and placed it in his lap.

A Beretta slug pistol.

He told the counsellor it was real and that he had it for his protection, the court heard.

At the end of the session he put the pistol back in his pocket, and travelled back to his home.

When police visited the following day he told them he had the pistol for protection from the people seeking him for money he owes.

Police sought an order for the destruction of the pistol.

In court today lawyer Nicholas Dutch said Gibson was attending the counselling voluntarily, and he asked that it continue as 'there is evidence he is not thinking properly”.

'He doesn't need to have a pistol for any reason, there was just some confusion of his thinking on the day,” says Nicholas.

Carrying a pistol for protection is guaranteed to make any situation far more serious, says Judge Robert Wolff.

He convicted Gibson and remanded him on bail until November 18 for a probation report.