lol. Paperwork it was. All guns were claimed at the border, paid taxes on them, etc. Nothing was smuggled, ever. They said because I was pre-paid, for guns not yet in my possession, that it constituted a commercial (not personal) transaction. Therefor my personal import permits, personal firearms license, etc. was no longer valid for importing these guns. The RCMP said if I had have got a loan, it wouldn't have been a problem. But because large amounts of money had been wired to my bank account, it raised a red flag, and they discovered that the guns were destined for people other than myself (but those people all held the proper license for the firearms in question).
I was eventually charged with:
- 19 counts of Import without Authority (failure to have commercial import permit).
- 19 counts of Import Commercial Firearm without proper Business License
- 50 counts of Possession of Prohibited Device (the 50 round magazines that came with the PS90's. They were pinned to 5 rounds as per the law, prior to import, but the RCMP disassembled them and removed the pin, re-assembled them and said "that's how we found them" lol
). And I was never ever in possession of them, ever, in the USA or in Canada.
- 7 counts of unsafe storage, for the guns at my house when they executed the search warrant... RCMP: "We found his safe wide open, and all of his gun cases open on his bed when we arrived." ummm yeah, that's why you had to ask me three times for the combo to my safe, and which keys were for unlocking which gun cases, etc. Why that crap isn't required to be video taped, I dunno.
and there were a few more charges for importing too much ammunition at one time for "personal use".
I plead guilty to 4 charges, which I for SURE didn't want to plead guilty to the prohibited device because that was the only one that carried a minimum jail sentence, and was such a crock of crap of a charge anyway, but they said because there were 50, they best they could do is reduce it to 1, not drop it all together.
Funny courtroom stories:
When I was trying to get bail (my case was reverse onus, google it, not fun) the judge asked my lawyer about my "criminal organization" bringing in such "huge quantities" of the prohibited 50 round magazines, for SURE must have been destined for gangs, think of all the children those magazines could kill (lol). My lawyer replied "Judge, that's like charging someone who robs Home Depot, for every single 2x4 he stole." the judge gave him the coldest stare ever *bam* bail denied, threat to public.
I guess every month or two they drag you back to court for a "bail review" to find out why you don't have bail yet, at my second bail hearing I guess the RCMP were hell bent on not letting me out. They had photos of the guns they took from my house (with the grenade launcher, etc.), went over well. They also had a bunch of items they took from my house, including a bullet proof vest (I bought expired ones and used them for target practice at the range). The RCMP hung the vest up on one of those light machines you use for looking at X-Rays. They announced to the judge/courtroom "This is a bullet proof vest we recovered from the defendants house. Behold..." *click* he turns on the xray light box thing, BOOM, vest is full of holes, like swiss cheese, the light shines clean through. There's a gasp in the courtroom and probably from the Judge too, she looked shocked. She said, in a somewhat worried voice "Mr. RCMP officer, which guns did the defendant own that could do THAT to a bulletproof vest!!??", the RCMP officer grabs the two page list of the guns that were taken from my house, looks it up and down, and says to the judge "Your honour, it would be shorter if I read you the list of guns he owned that COULDN'T do this to a bulletproof vest" the courtroom erupted "BURN HIM, BUUUUURN HIM!" and the judge slammed her binder down on her desk, bail denied, threat to public safety
The guards came by one day for my third bail review, I told them SCREW THAT! No f'ing way you're dragging me to another bail review, ESPECIALLY NOT ON PANCAKE TUESDAY!! I thought I was going to be in for a fight, but they just left. Never had any bail reviews after that, my trial date was set for 3 years 4 months away!!!!
In order to not rot in jail for more than 3 years waiting for my day in court I was forced to take a plea deal. I was sentenced to 1 year, got 2x credit for time served (plus some 3x for lockdown days) and got parole (which I'm told never happens at the provincial/under 2 year sentence level) after half of my sentence was done, then switched to 3 years of probation (and 10 year firearm/explosives ban) once my 1 year sentence was finished (actually only had to serve 75% because of good behaviour).
I've got some good jail stories too
-Jamie M.
(P.S. for those not familiar, PS90 on the right, FS2000 on the left:
