Kudos to the Edmonton Police Service for busting these idiots.

On December 17th, news broke that the Edmonton Police Service arrested several individuals with valid Canadian firearms Possession and Acquisition Licences (PAL) for legally purchased guns to sell to criminals, aka straw purchasing.

“People who legally purchase guns and traffic them to criminals are equally responsible for the violence on our streets and will be held to account,” says Staff Sgt. Eric Stewart, Edmonton Police Service Firearms Investigation Unit (FIU).

Calvin Warren-Grandbois, Michael Steinke and Bradley Smigorowsky must be a special kind of stupid to think they could get away with legally buying guns and selling them to criminals already under Firearm Prohibition Orders.

Canadian law states you cannot legally purchase firearms without a valid PAL. Handguns must be registered and, when a PAL holder purchases multiple handguns in a short period of time, their license is automatically flagged flagged for review.

This is no secret.

So when legally-purchased handguns show up at crime scenes, police don’t need to be superheroes to figure out where the gun game from. They check the firearm registry, learn who bought the gun and where they live, and the rest is a straight line to a jail cell.

A group of men are facing a mountain of charges after Edmonton city police say officers busted three separate gun-trafficking operations putting legal weapons into the hands of criminals.

The men are facing multiple firearm offences in connection to the three separate straw-purchasing investigations recently completed by the Edmonton Police Service Firearms Investigation Unit (FIU).

In October, FIU members commenced an investigation after receiving intelligence one man had purchased 14 restricted firearms from an Edmonton retailer between September 2019 and July 2021.

In June 2021, one of those firearms was recovered while executing a search warrant at an unrelated residence.

The next stop for Edmonton Police investigators is “the address where the accused’s firearms were supposed to be lawfully stored.”

It’s that easy.

Police show up to check if you possess all the firearms registered to you and, when you don’t, you have some serious explaining to do.

 

Another Firearms Possession Order Failure

Notably, four of the men arrested for firearms trafficking were already prohibited from possessing firearms due to previous arrests and/or convictions.

Repeat firearm prohibition order offenders are a big red warning flare that Canada’s firearm prohibition order system is broken.

People with a history of violent offences are a proven danger to public safety, yet these are the people our government refuses to check on or track.

• No police agency in Canada tracks individuals with Firearm Prohibition Orders registered against them.
• There is no legal requirement for police to track individuals with Firearm Prohibition Orders registered against them or routinely check on them to ensure compliance.
• There is no legal requirement for individuals with Firearm Prohibition Orders to notify police when they move to a new residence. Police have no idea where these people are.

Common sense dictates our scarce police resources should be devoted to those individuals who pose the greatest risk to public safety, yet these are the people Canada’s legislators and police totally ignore.

As noted on my Firearm Prohibition Order Violators tracking page, the only way these offenders are discovered is when police arrest them for some other crime, as in these Edmonton cases.

It’s only after the arrest on other charges do police discover the offender is already subject to a Firearms Prohibition Order.

As shocking as the realization may be to some, a Firearm Prohibition Order is a useless piece of paper.

No policing agency in the nation is tasked with enforcing Firearm Prohibition Orders.

It’s as if the federal government doesn’t care about repeat offenders who use illegal guns to commit their crimes.

 

Arrested

Calvin Warren-Grandbois, 31, of Edmonton is facing multiple charges including 15 counts of firearms trafficking and 15 counts of possession for the purpose of firearms trafficking.

Fausto Munguia Orta, 29, of Edmonton is facing charges including possession for the purpose of firearms trafficking, unauthorized possession (firearm) in a motor vehicle, and unauthorized possession of a firearm.

Michael Steinke, 52, of Edmonton is facing multiple charges including four counts of firearms trafficking, four counts of possession for the purpose of firearms trafficking, public mischief, and firearm false statements concerning loss.

Juston Boucher, 29, of Edmonton is charged with firearms trafficking, having a firearm in a motor vehicle, unauthorized possession of a firearm, firearm possession contrary to prohibition order, and driving while prohibited.

Richard Leber, 50, of Edmonton is charged with two counts of possession of weapons contrary to prohibition order, having a firearm in a motor vehicle, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of an offensive weapon danger to the public, careless use/storage of a firearm, and failing to comply with a probation order.

Bradley Smigorowsky, 40, of Fort Saskatchewan, is charged with two counts of firearms trafficking.

Cody Young, 32, of Edmonton, is charged with having a firearm in a motor vehicle, possession of a prohibited/restricted firearm with ammunition, unauthorized possession of a firearm, and possession of weapons contrary to prohibition order.

Ryley Hoffman, 35, of Edmonton is charged with having a firearm in a motor vehicle, possession of prohibited/restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of weapons contrary to prohibition order, carrying a concealed weapon, and contravention of use, storage, handling and transport regulations.