He called police from his Surrey home in October, to have them come pick up some guns as part of a B.C Firearms Amnesty.
During the month-long amnesty, guns can be given to police without fear of percussions, as long as the weapon hasn’t been used in the conduct of a crime.
The Newton resident told police he was going hunting, and that his wife would give them then guns.
When police arrived on Oct. 22, they took possession of a 1902 Winchester (.22 calibre) and a Lee Enfield 1943 (.303 calibre).
On closer examination, it turns out the Lee Enfield had been stolen from its owner in Asherm, Manitoba in 2007.
Police are investigating to find out how the gun went missing, and whether it had been used in the commission of a crime.
It will be nearly impossible to say how the gun was acquired since the long-gun registry was abandoned 10 years ago, a full year before it was reported stolen in Winnipeg.
Police say the Newton resident can rest assured that it’s very unlikely any charges will be directed at him, or possibly at all in this case.
Surrey RCMP say they are simply going to notify Winnipeg RCMP of the find so the police agencies can “close the loop” on the file.
The find comes as the province reports in on the number of guns retrieved as part of this year’s gun amnesty.
During October, 39 Surrey weapons were retrieved during the program.
Close to 1,200 firearms were returned province-wide to the RCMP as part of the October gun amnesty.
Police and officials announced at a news conference at the B.C. RCMP headquarters in Surrey on Thursday (Nov. 10) that 1,184 firearms, including replicas, were turned in last month, following 690 requests to remove firearms and ammunition.
“The firearms that were retrieved included 543 rifles, 223 shotguns and 222 handguns,” said B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police Chief Cst. Les Sylvan. “In addition, British Columbians also asked police to remove thousands of rounds of ammunition, limited explosives and a large number of replicas.”
It is the third gun amnesty the province has held in the past decade. The previous two were in 2006 and 2013 and yielded more than 5,000 firearms.
~ with files from Katya Slepian
