Conditional discharge for having shotgun

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2020 (2079 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who found a shotgun by the river and kept it despite not having the proper licence has been given the opportunity to earn back a clean record.

Ryan Powell, 26, pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court on Monday to failing to report a firearm when found and possession of a firearm without a licence.

“Mr. Powell could, absent these charges now, lawfully possess a gun if he had gone through it the proper way — bought a gun properly, stored it properly, got a (possession and acquisition licence) for it. But instead he finds a gun … and decides to keep it for himself,” Crown attorney Caroline Lacey told the court.

“Obviously this conduct needs to be deterred.”

On Sept. 27, police went to Powell’s home to serve him with a protection order, Lacey said, during which they advised him that there was a condition on the order not to possess firearms.

Initially Powell said he did not have any firearms, Lacey said, but had a quick change of heart and told them there was a shotgun being stored behind the wall in his basement.

Powell took police inside and an officer squeezed under the basement stairs and located the firearm where Powell had described, Lacey said.

It was a pump-action shotgun with a slightly sawed-off barrel, Lacey said, and there was no ammunition for the gun found.

Powell told police he had found the gun and “thought it was cool” so he kept it, Lacey said, but never had any intention of using it.

Defence lawyer Patrick Sullivan added Powell had been walking around the river last summer when he found some shotgun shells and started exploring the area.

That’s when he found the gun, Sullivan said, and took it home because he thought it was interesting.

At one point, Powell had considered giving the firearm to a relative who had a PAL, Sullivan added, but ultimately that never happened.

The incident had the “element of ignorance,” Sullivan said, and he immediately co-operated with police and turned the firearm over when asked to do so.

“Mr. Powell is somewhat unsophisticated … his intention was not malicious. He was ignorant and he should have not taken the gun or reported it when he found it. He should not have possessed it without a licence, but he did both those things,” Sullivan said.

The Crown asked the court to consider imposing high fines as well as a firearms prohibition, but Sullivan argued that a conditional discharge would be more appropriate, giving Powell the opportunity to earn back a clean record.

Judge Donovan Dvorak agreed a conditional discharge was not contrary to the public interest and sentenced Powell to a 12-month conditional discharge.

Powell was also handed 50 hours of community service and a 10 year firearms prohibition.

» edebooy@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @erindebooy