With homemade, automatic weapons in front of him, Const. Chris Young doesn’t understate the potential danger.
“These things can be devastating in the wrong hands,” the RCMP officer says.
The firearms on the table include a .22-calibre rifle and an AK-M (AK-47) rifle that were turned into automatic weapons.
Also laid out are a 1911-style pistol and a German submachine-gun. Both were handcrafted.
All four weapons are the handiwork of Jason Patrick Loder, who even engraved his surname into the pistol’s handle.
Loder is the 26-year-old gun lover who has pleaded guilty
to a number of charges, including making an automatic weapon, unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm, careless use of a firearm or ammunition, and possessing a weapon with ammunition.
His sentencing hearing took place at provincial court in St. John’s during two afternoons last week.
As the proceeding wrapped up Friday, Judge David Power said he wanted time to review the case and scheduled Nov. 5 as the day he’d hand down a sentence.
Police searched and found a cache of rifles and pistols in Loder’s Baird Place apartment just over a year ago after they learned of images he posted on www.canadiangunnutz.com and photobucket.com.
Many of the weapons were registered, but some were prohibited, including the ones on the table in front of Young.
Police described the cache as “frightening” at the time.
Loder, who has licences to own restricted and non-restricted firearms, admitted his guilt in March.
He has co-operated with police throughout the investigation.
He told the court he was an incurable collector and that making the weapons was the only way to have them in his collection.
Young is with the unit that busted the gun lover last August, the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team. It’s a joint unit between the RCMP and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in this province.
With the guns on display for The Telegram at RNC headquarters, Young says this isn’t the type of thing police see on a regular basis.
“A seizure like this comes along, maybe, once a year,” he says, adding police probably don’t know a lot of what’s out there.
Legal collecting
Young says there are a lot of people with firearm collections and the vast majority do things legally.
But because of the Internet, he says, the parts and instructions needed to make guns are readily available and there is always the potential for more homemade, illegal weapons to surface.
“You can go on the Internet these days and learn to make anything,” he says. “That you can find out how to make firearms is not surprising. But the biggest concern is who ends up having these things.”
Const. Jennifer Clarke, a media relations officer with the RNC, is also sitting in on the interview. If you collect guns, she says, make sure everything is registered.
“We don’t want to have to charge people with these things,” she says. “It’s a hobby and it can be quite rewarding — as long as everything is done legally and safely.”
Young believes there is a fine line between being a hobbyist and knowingly manufacturing automatic weapons.
He points out that one of the fully automated weapons in front of him was designed to be used in a World War.
“It has no purpose in today’s society,” he says.
The Mountie advises potential gun makers that some parts are illegal in Canada, as are some weapons they might make (the ones on the table, for instance).
He suggests that people interested in ordering a weapon or part should see if it’s legal before doing so by contacting police.
Ditto for anyone who thinks they may possess a weapon that could be prohibited. People might not have to surrender an illegal firearm, Young says. Sometimes it can be modified and made legal by a gun shop.
The Crown wants Loder to be sentenced to two years less a day and to be banned from possessing guns for life.
The defence is asking for a conditional sentence. They’re also requesting Loder’s mandatory firearm ban not last for life.
Power will likely decide the fate of the man’s homemade weapons, too.
Young says seized guns are often forfeited to the Crown and, if the police have no use for them, they are usually destroyed.
Loder’s case represents only the second time in Canada that someone has been charged with making an automatic weapon.
sbartlett@thetelegram.com
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
M, please take the time to understand what a restricted firearm is.. He is in trouble because he had prohibited firearms.