I am in court this week defending a 55 year old gentleman, with no criminal record, on the charges of:
- Illegal possession of a firearm (section 91(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada);
- Illegal Storage of a firearm (section 86(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada; and
- Possession of an unregistered firearm (section 112(1) of the Firearms Act of Canada.
The facts are simple. Wife leaves husband after 30 years of marriage. Husband goes on a drinking binge. Wife does not hear from husband and he does not show up to work for a few days. Wife gets worried that he may have hurt himself. Wife calls the cops and says that there is a long-gun in the house. Gun is in a closet without a trigger lock. The gun has not been used nor thought of for 30+ years. Husband is charged with the above crimes. There is also an application brought under section 117.05 of the Firearms Act for forfeiture of he gun to the police to be destroyed. Husband and wife reconcile. The disclosure from the Crown included a screening form stating that the Crown would be seeking a jail term for this clearly victimless crime if my guy proceeds to trial. Did I mention that he is a 55 year old man without a criminal record? Did I mention that he has never been charged with a crime? Did I mention that he is never going to jail? He does, however, face the problem of having a criminal record. The Crown will not deal though I still can't figure out who got hurt in all this. I will let you know how it turns out. I have concocted a defence that may work. We will see. The problem for my guy is the insistence by the Crown that any deal involves my guy getting a criminal record. What nonsense. As for the Registry charges, the Crown is proceeding but it will be interesting to see how a judge will deal with these charges in light of the plans of the Consrvative government to scrap the registry. UPDATE: The charges were withdrawn at the beginning of the trial.