It’s enough guns to arm a small militia, but the dozen or so weapons taken off the streets of Burnaby last month won’t be ending up in the wrong hands anytime soon.
During the provincewide gun amnesty in October, a total of 14 guns were turned in to the Burnaby RCMP detachment, along with two antique guns.
Of the 14 weapons turned in, five were hand guns.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Major John Buis said it’s important to run a gun amnesty program every few years.
“Anytime firearms are turned in, that’s one less firearm that could potentially get into the wrong hands,” he told the NOW.
Buis explained what will happen to the guns now they’re in police possession. The RCMP’s firearms section will see if any of the weapons can be put in the force’s collection, and the rest will be destroyed. The firearms section is looking over the two antique guns.
“These are people who no longer needed them, or no longer wanted them, or they’d come into their possession through a family member,” Buis noted.
But the number of guns turned over in Burnaby was just a fraction of what other police departments received in October.
Across the province, a total of 1,184 firearms and replicas were turned in during the month-long campaign, along with a variety of related items, including holsters, non-firearms weapons, limited explosives and several thousand rounds of miscellaneous ammunition.
According to the numbers, the majority of firearms collected were rifles, shotguns and handguns. There were 543 rifles, 223 shotguns and 222 handguns. Throughout the month, there were 690 requests for police to collect firearms, weapons or ammunition in B.C. In Burnaby, there were 13 calls to the detachment to collect guns.
Buis suggested there is a tendency for more guns in outlying areas of the province, particularly long guns.
Under the amnesty, people were given the opportunity to dispose of any unwanted firearms that had not been used in a criminal offence, without facing weapons-related Criminal Code charges.
In 2013, the last time the province offered a gun a month-long gun amnesty, 49 firearms were turned in to Burnaby RCMP, including 30 rifles and 12 shotguns.
