60 firearms seized in Garden City

A routine stop at the Canada-U.S. border triggered a police investigation resulting in the seizure of 60 firearms and the arrest of the former operator of the defunct St. Catharines Gun Club.

John Emmett, 71, of St. Catharines was charged Monday with unauthorized possession of a firearm knowing its possession is unauthorized and possession of a firearm contrary to a court order.

The Niagara Regional Police investigation into the history of the firearms seizure isn’t over, however.

Const. Phil Gavin said police are trying to identify the person who allegedly trafficked guns previously seized by the NRP.

“It is still part of the ongoing investigation,” said Gavin.

The police probe began on June 24, Gavin said, when a Niagara resident took a wrong turn and ended up driving across the border at the Peace Bridge.

“It happens, people do that. But when you turn around to come back into Canada, you have to back through customs,” Gavin said. “When you do that, customs agents will ask you if you have anything to declare, do you have any firearms?”

In this case, border agents found the driver had a firearm he was prohibited from having.

Gavin said the action at the border is “the grassroots of border enforcement,” because the incident involved a Niagara resident. Customs informed the NRP, which launched its own investigation. The NRP liaison officer with the Ontario Provincial Police provincial weapons enforcement unit led the probe, which resulted in a search warrant being executed at a St. Catharines residence Monday.

Some 60 firearms, including rifles and shotguns, were seized. The investigation revealed it was the same residence where 100 firearms plus ammunition and explosives were seized in 2013. The 60 guns found by police Monday were among those 100 weapons.

Gavin said that in 2013 during a public safety hearing in a local court a judge ruled the owner of the guns could no longer possess them.

“In cases like this, the defence can argue the weapons be given to a person who can lawfully possess and sell them,” Gavin said. “The money from the sale is then given to the owner.”

In 2013, the guns were given turned over to someone who could possess them and sold to a person police have yet to identify.

At some point, that person gave the weapons to the original owner who a judge ruled could not have them.