KRPF launches gun-storage crack-down

ODILE NELSON

KUUJJUAQ — The Kativik Regional Police are promising to confiscate improperly stored firearms after a mischievous incident in Salluit sent two youths to hospital last week with self-inflicted wounds.

The incident is only the latest in a rash of gun-related offences over the past six months, police said, and the increase is forcing them to be more stringent about seizing insecure guns and rifles during unrelated, routine police calls.

“Although it is not the intention of the KRPF to enforce the [Firearms Safety] Act to the letter, we strongly feel that we have the obligation to take preventative action when our officers notice a breach of the act when on a police call,” Brian Jones, chief of KRPF, said in a statement released last week.

Section 86 of the criminal code makes it illegal to store firearms and ammunition in a “careless manner or without reasonable precautions for the safety of other persons.”

People found guilty of insecurely storing firearms or ammunition can receive a two-year sentence for their first offence.

The KRPF’s heavy stance against improperly stored firearms stems from an incident that began on the evening of Oct. 30 in Salluit.

According to the press release, two young offenders walked away from Salluit’s rehabilitation centre around 7 p.m. that evening and went on a shooting spree after they found a 22-rifle and ammunition lying in the shed of a nearby residence.

The two youths took the weapon and ammunition and then set off randomly firing the weapon at various locations throughout the town, including a construction camp, the local Telesat Canada site and the rehabilitation centre.

The spree ended nearly six hours later, when the Salluit nursing station called police and reported one of the youth had shown up at the station with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his shoulder.

Police later found the other youth on a hill above the centre. The second youth also had a self-inflicted wound to his shoulder.

Emergency personnel flew the pair to Puvirnituq by emergency helicopter where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The two face charges of break and entering, careless use of a firearm, and mischief.

Their names cannot be released under provisions of the Young Offenders Act.

Lucien Brassard, inspector with the KRPF in Kuujjuaq, said this incident is relatively minor compared with other gun-related incidents that have recently occurred in Nunavik.

A couple of recent situations turned from violent to deadly when agitated offenders found easy access to improperly stored guns and ammunition in local homes, he said.

It simply makes sense for the KRPF to take a preventative stance and seize any insecure firearms they may notice during routine calls, Brassard said.

“What we want is to make firearms less accessible and avoid problems before they begin,” Brassard said. “In many homes, firearms are not stored securely. In Inuit homes front doors are also not locked as a sign of hospitality, openness. But [this can cause problems] if the door is open, the firearms are stored near ammunition and there is no trigger lock…If we can only limit the access to firearms other incidents should be less serious.”

Police will confiscate any insecure firearms they see on routine searches and not return them until the owner can prove they will be properly stored.

Police said they will accept trigger lock devices as a secured way to lock firearms.

If owners do not secure their firearms, police will not return their weapons, Brassard said.

Police may also charge the owners with an indictable offence.