It’s a situation that many a family has found themselves in over the years.
A loved one passes away and while dealing with their personal effects, you come across a firearm of some sort and have little idea of what to do with it.
Or you happen to be simply out for a walk and come across a discarded handgun of some sort, remove it to prevent children from finding it, and are now in possession an illegal weapon.
So what do you do?
A current initiative by the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police has the answer.
The SACP is in the midst of its annual firearm amnesty program, where individuals can simply contact their local police service and have the weapon picked up with no fear of facing charges.
“If you’re in possession of a gun you want to talk to us about, we want you to phone us, we’ll grab some details from you and we’ll send an officer out to speak with you and collect your gun,” said Moose Jaw Police Service Const. Rod Zoerb in describing the simplicity of the process.
“In the past, we’ve had non-restricted, restricted and prohibited guns turned in for a variety of reasons. Sometimes with prohibited guns, the licensing restrictions are hard to pass inside of the law, so we end up with some of those. Other than that, it’s whatever shows up, shows up, and we’ll do what we can to help.”
Firearm amnesty refers to the fact that if an individual is in possession of a firearm and isn’t legally licensed to have one in their possession, the police won’t pursue charges when the weapon is turned over.
“Sometimes it isn’t someone who came into possession of it by finding it, or in a relative’s place after they were deceased, something like that,” Zoerb said. “There’s a wide variety of reasons people end up encountering them, and if you need help dealing with them, just give us a call.”
Simply call the main MJPS line at (306) 694-7600 or Moose Jaw RCMP at (306) 691-4670 for more information and they’ll let you know the next steps.
One important thing to remember -- and it can’t be stressed enough -- is not to show up at the station itself with your gun. As one can imagine, that can lead to less-than-ideal situations.
“We just want to emphasize don’t bring firearms to the police station,” Zoerb said. “Things in the past have happened, so we just want to prevent that from happening again.”
