Gun amnesty coming next month

If you no longer want the old hunting rifle in the basement or the Second World War relic from an ancestor, Ottawa police do want it. A lot.

The city’s police and Ontario Provincial Police will spend April asking people to turn in old weapons before bad things happen to them.

“I think we all recognize the danger that guns pose on our streets,” Chief Charles Bordeleau said Monday. “We’re joining with the OPP, (which) is doing a provincewide gun amnesty.

“What we are trying to do is reduce the amount of guns on our streets. We are trying to reduce the number of times that a firearm is subject to being stolen from a residence and then being used illegally, in a crime.”

Criminals have two main ways to get guns, Bordeleau said: They can import them from the United States, or steal them from gun owners in Canada.

“And we are seeing a shift where more guns are being domestically sourced” through breaking and entering.

“We also recognize that the criminals aren’t going to be the ones that are calling us and saying, ‘I’ve got a firearm to turn in.’ We don’t expect that to happen.”

But he says he does expect to see people with old, unused guns who turn them in, “and we have had good success in the past.”

The police will destroy what people hand in. Some are old hunting weapons. Some are collectibles. “Some people have guns in their residence that have been legally turned over to them as a result of inheritance, but they really don’t want them. They are keeping them for sentimental reasons. So we’re saying, well, why not just get rid of them?” the chief said.

Here’s the important point. Police do not — repeat, not — want you to walk into a police station toting Great Uncle Fred’s old weapons. Instead, people are asked to call (613) 236-1222 and explain what they want to turn in.