A cache of 100 firearms was turned over from North Shore residents’ closets and crawl spaces during this October’s gun amnesty.
The province arranges an amnesty every few years to collect guns – no questions asked – that are no longer wanted by their owners, to prevent them from ever being misused or falling into the wrong hands. The guns are catalogued and researched before being destroyed.
West Vancouver police brought in 48 firearms altogether, and 2,300 rounds of ammunition, slightly up from the last amnesty in 2013, which collected 33 guns.
Included in the haul were seven shotguns, 27 rifles of varying types and caliber, and 14 pistols. Notable finds turned over to officers were a Waffen 7.5 revolver, which was standard issue in the Swiss army from 1882 to 1949; two British Webley revolvers, possibly left over from the First World War; one Walther PPK (James Bond’s favoured gun) and some .38 specials.
“No rocket launchers,” said Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman “But a lot of very capable firearms, which, with ammunition and the wrong hands, could cause a great deal of harm and heartache.”
North Vancouver RCMP members collected 42 rifles, shotguns and pistols as well as one replica musket that may have once been a prop from a locally shot movie, according to police. That’s down significantly from 90 firearms collected in 2013.
“Which is encouraging,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “You’d like to think our closets and hiding places are becoming less and less occupied with unwanted firearms. Hopefully there will come a day when we have none or very few turned in.”
Police don’t discourage the legal keeping or sale of firearms, Palmer said, but most often, guns collected in the amnesty are coming from homes where they were never wanted nor stored properly.
“A good number of the ones that we’re receiving here are rifles or pistols that a deceased family member had and people have not really known what to do with them,” he said. “They’re just relieved not to have it in the house and definitely it’s a relief to us to know that if someone’s house is broken into, there isn’t a firearm that could be taken and find an illegal use somewhere.”
Depending on their vintage and condition, the antique pistols are popular with collectors, although none of the weapons will likely be saved from the smelter, Palmer said.
