Southern AB gun store accused of selling guns illegally

[pikergolf]

I'm guessing because they were a small town shop they could get away without checking everyone, every time.



CARDSTON, Alta. – A southern Alberta gun store’s entire inventory, including more than 1,000 guns and a million rounds of ammunition, has been seized as part of a police investigation into alleged firearms trafficking.

The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, or ALERT, says in a release that K and D Implements in Cardston was searched on May 29 and two of the store’s owners were arrested.

Investigators allege the business was selling guns and ammunition illegally.

The owners are accused of failing to ensure that customers provided valid possession acquisition licences, which gun buyers in Canada must have before firearms and ammunition can be purchased.

Dean Sommerfeldt, who is 58, and Todd Sommerfeldt, who is 31, have been charged with trafficking a firearm, possession of weapons for the purpose of trafficking, careless storage of a restricted weapon and transfer of a weapon and/or ammunition without authority.

Both men have been released on a number of court imposed conditions, including not to possess any firearms.

Besides the guns and ammunition, the store’s inventory also included thousands of firearm primers, gun powder and explosive material used in target practice.

Investigators allege that these items were sold illegally on a number of occasions.

http://medicinehatnews.com/news/prov...s-trafficking/

[troutbug]

This sure does not help anything

http://globalnews.ca/news/3512401/so...ion-illegally/

[silverdoctor]

Has to be more to this story.

[CaberTosser]

I've never even heard of this store, did they operate the store under a different name than K&D Implements?

Sad to imagine what might become of that inventory..... Gov't won't be sending it to auction as far as I could possibly imagine....

[agentsmith]

“This gun store needlessly put public safety at risk by allowing conceivably anyone to acquire guns,” Staff Sgt. Jason Walper said in a news release. “We would be naïve to believe that this was not exploited by organized crime and the criminal element.”

Is there any proof of supplying organized crime, or is this just speculation? After a 5 month investigation, you'd think they'd be able to do more than just imply that MIGHT have happened.

[troutbug]

Originally Posted by agentsmith

Is there any proof of supplying organized crime, or is this just speculation? After a 5 month investigation, you'd think they'd be able to do more than just imply that MIGHT have happened.

Im sure if they have proof that they will not disclose all the findings right away.

[dmcbride]

The whole showing a PAL to purchase guns and ammunition is joke when one group doesn't even need to have a picture on the card and anyone could use it.

[Brian Adams]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I've never even heard of this store

So?

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Brian Adams

So?

Perhaps they have no online presence which seems pretty odd in this day and age, plus it seemed a rather sizeable inventory for a store that doesn't seem to get their name out on the internet. I generally try to explore any Alberta gun shops I'm aware of so I was surprised to have missed one is all. It just seems a weird thing to avoid in the current firearms marketplace. That being said I know that Pro Line Shooters in Calgary does not maintain any web presence to speak of, but they're in a large population centre on a main drag. Cardston isn't exactly a large population centre. Heck, even Bashaw Sports has a website. I thought it odd that in a decade on firearm chat forums it's never yet crossed my radar is all. Not one mention until this incident.

[Brian Adams]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Has to be more to this story.

No there doesn't

[H380]

Don't think he was referring to natives

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[Scott N]

Originally Posted by H380

Don't think he was referring to natives

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Yes, I may have misunderstood. I guess you're not talking about Mormons?

[Wiz]

I'll take that case of SKS's

[fish_e_o]

Originally Posted by Wiz

I'll take that case of SKS's

after they chop them all to little bits?

[Scott N]

Cardston.... the nation's hotbed of gun crime.

[H380]

Don't know the circumstances surrounding the case here. Just know they sold hunting equipment and reloading supplies and had a great stock of both. When no one else had ammo to sell these guys did.

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[gs100bert]

Bought 17 amo from these guys a few times most times i was asked for a pal only once was i not . should off bought 2 bricks last time i was there i guess .

[molly]

K&D is well known down there, all the way to Pincher and the Pass. We bought several guns from them for fundraising auctions for our trappers association. Very accommodating. Great selection. And not just guns but everything for camping, ice fishing, etc. This is sad news but if they failed to do the necessary checks, and someone reported them... well, I guess the law is the law.

[Wiz]

Time will tell what the specifics are - be it organized crime, or failure of due diligence (checking pals).

• If it was organized crime, then good.
• If its selling restricted to people without a rPAL, then tough luck, rules is rules…
• If it’s simply failure to check pals for non-restricteds or ammo, then i think the writing is on the wall for us gun owners.

It would have been on the direction of higher rank RCMP or Crown Prosecution to press formal charges, display all those guns and ammo, take photos and send to the media. And I’m cautiously hopeful they would not have gone to these lengths if this wasn’t serious (and involving a criminal element) ….

[honda610]

I have never dealt with the store so I have no comment on the charges.
As far as not showing your P.A.L to purchase ammo or a firearm. Check out the recent religious accommodation made by the CFO. Special people don't have to have there picture taken or displayed on there P.A.L
Let the decline of our country continue

[JDK71]

Originally Posted by honda610

I have never dealt with the store so I have no comment on the charges.
As far as not showing your P.A.L to purchase ammo or a firearm. Check out the recent religious accommodation made by the CFO. Special people don't have to have there picture taken or displayed on there P.A.L
Let the decline of our country continue

that's BS one rule for all sad world

[H380]

I'm afraid media is gonna have a field day with this one ...dont believe for a second that it has to anything to do with organised crime

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[H380]

I wouldn't exactly say set up but it does fall right into the antis lap .

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[aulrich]

Hey just saw on the news he other day that the Amish have been moving to the maritime and oddly they don't need a picture on their pal.

Just thought I would throw that out since it was coming out.

Although the MSM was making seem bigger than it was , they were selling binary explosives after all.

But really they mostly just stepped on their own nards and it will cost them.


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[H380]

Cabertosser , I've pmd a bunch of folks on thus forum about K and D being the place to find reloading and ammo supplies ..they were a honey hole so to speak . Many guys on this forum have been there and will continue to go..

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[H380]

And you'd be right nube ..

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[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by H380

And you'd be right nube ..

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Glad you said it but I'll agree. Lol

[Newview01]

Here is an article that ought to infuriate the average gun owner.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...4-536657036981

Increasing levels of gun violence in the city weighs heavily on the mind of the city’s police chief

In a year-end interview with Postmedia last month, Calgary police Chief Roger Chaffin said the increase in gun crime adds a dangerous new dimension to maintaining law and order in the city.

“It goes along with the high presence of guns in the city right now, plus the willingness to use guns,” he said.

“It’s all part of the same story with all the dysfunction going on right now, in terms of addictions and downturns in the economy.”

The ongoing issue was again brought to the forefront during November’s city budget deliberations, during which police brass asked for a $14.3-million funding increase to maintain service levels in the city.

Between January and August, police responded to 62 shootings within city limits.
That compares with 45 during the same period last year.

Of the city’s 28 murders in 2017, a third involved fatal shootings.

Chaffin attributed the uptick in gun crime to a significant increase in the availability of firearms to Calgary criminals.

“Once, it would be rare for us to ever see a gun,” he said.

“If you pulled someone over in an arrest, a gun would be a pretty unique situation — now it’s a pretty common situation.

“Now, if you stop a stolen vehicle, there’ll be guns inside that car. If you’re going to be inside a house where there’s drugs, there’ll be guns inside that house.”

The use of guns in assaults and violent score-settling between Calgary’s criminals is extremely troubling to police — mainly due to the seemingly indiscriminate way in which they’re used, with little regard for bystanders or those forced to witness these violent acts.

Despite a common belief the firearms are being smuggled north across the border from the United States, Chaffin said many of the guns police see used in violent crime are sourced locally.

“A lot of them are being obtained through break-and-enters in homes that are being targeted for their presence of weapons,” he said.

“Even with safes, offenders are able to manipulate them fairly easily to get the weapons out.”

According to the RCMP, gun thefts have spiked over the past three years, increasing 66 per cent during that period.

The force reports more than 4,500 firearms were stolen across the province in the past four years.

That averages out to about three firearms taken per day in Alberta.
As well, Mounties came into contact with nearly 8,000 firearms last year, seizing more than half of them.

Over the past five years, Alberta’s Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) has seized close to 800 firearms and, as of March of this year, seized 189 guns so far in 2016-17.

That’s up from 141 the year before and is closing in on their record year in 2013-14 when 197 guns were taken off the streets.

Over 1,000 guns and a million rounds of ammo were seized from a Cardston, Alta. gun shop in months-long firearms trafficking investigation by ALERT.

In June, investigators from ALERT laid firearms trafficking charges against the owners of a Cardston retailer, seizing a thousand guns and over one million rounds of ammunition.

During the five-month investigation into the store, investigators alleged the owners put public safety at risk by selling firearms and ammunition to customers without ensuring they held valid firearms licences at the time of sale.

“Weapons are being purchased within the province and being handed off to friends, so it makes it difficult to track who has weapons,” Chaffin said.
This, he said, adds even more stress to the everyday realities of policing in Calgary.

“With all of these shootings, it really raises the tension about the need to be safe, and worry about that one call you’re going to go to where a gun’s going to be pointed at you.”

Apparently journalists are judge and jury nowadays, seeing as these "allegations" have yet to be proven in court.

[Battle Rat]

Jeez, maybe they should reduce the availability of guns to the bad guys by stopping them from steeling them. I.e tougher sentences.

[Scott N]

It's starting to seem to me that Chaffin is in over his head as the police chief. Morale of the force sure seems to be in the tank, maybe it's because he's an idiot. At least Hansen seemed to have the respect of the force.