Saanich Police are investigating the recovery of several dozen firearm parts from a dumpster in the 3300 block of Douglas Street, near the Galloping Goose Trail.
Two individuals living at the nearby Regina Park encampment told police that they found the items shortly before 9 p.m. on Monday night, August 27th. With the proactive assistance of the main organizer of the encampment, known as Camp Namegans, these items were turned over to Saanich Police a short time later.
There was a previous investigation in January 2017 where these and other firearm parts were seized from a Saanich storage locker under a judicially-authorized search warrant executed by police in the 3900 block of Quadra Street.
At that time, police consulted with provincial police firearms experts with the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST). They learned that the owner of the nearly one hundred firearm parts had no criminal history, held a valid Possession & Acquisition License (PAL) and that under the existing interpretation of the relevant national firearm laws, the owner was in lawful possession of the individual parts and had not committed any criminal offence.
As a result, in February 2017, police returned all of the seized parts to the lawful owner, a then-20 year old Victoria man. The items recovered last night were in the same sealed police evidence bags from when they were returned to the owner about eighteen months ago. Police are in the early stages of investigation and will contact the owner to determine how these firearm parts ended up in a dumpster. Police are grateful to the individuals who turned these items in.
Canadian law does not regulate the possession of the individual firearm parts which were found in the dumpster, such as barrels, slides and trigger assemblies. For info on Canadian laws which now govern the legality of other firearm parts, please see the link: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/pol-leg/receiver-carcasse-eng.htm or contact the Canadian Firearms Program at 1-800-731-4000.
Saanich File 18-21455
Scott Treble, Staff Sgt. – Saanich Police