Gun registration system criticized in aftermath of trial

Judge instructed jury to find police officer not guilty of gun charges after new information came to light during testimony

By Mia Urquhart

SAINT JOHN - For 18 months, the taxpayers of Saint John have been paying a city police officer pending the outcome of a criminal investigation and subsequent trial.

Approximately $75,000 later,this week's three-day trial of Const. S. Mark Smith did not even last past the second morning.

In light of new information presented to the court yesterday,Mr. Justice Hugh McLellan instructed the jury to find the nine year veteran of the force not guilty of possessing a restricted weapon without the proper ownership permit.

At a press conference following yesterday's acquittal, he said he was relieved that the ordeal is over and looks forward to going back to work as soon as possible.

The only thing that stands in the way, he said, is an allegation under the Police Act.

Defence lawyer Peter Forbes said the allegation centres around the transporting of handguns to and from the United States. He said his client is not guilty of any offence under the Police Act or under the Criminal Code of Canada.

"It's been 18 months of hell for him," said Mr. Forbes. He said Const. Smith's family has "suffered greatly" - not to mention financially. Const. Smith said he will apply to the police union for financial assistance with the hefty legal bills he's amassed in the past 18 months.

Mr. Forbes also expressed his disgust with the criminal investigation conducted by the RCMP.

He said it was "shoddy and incomplete." "It was only [Wednesday] night that they discovered an essential piece of evidence that they should have discovered months, if not a year ago," said Mr. Forbes.

He said the Smith case just proves "how faulty, full of holes and inaccurate" the RCMP's system of registering firearms really is. The president of the National Firearms Association agrees. David Tomlinson, who flew from his Edmonton home to New Brunswick for the trial, said the Firearms Registration Administration Section (FRAS), is a waste of millions of taxpayers' dollars.

He said between 25 and 35 per cent of all Ottawa's records "are meaningless trash. "

He said it's not unusual for FRAS to have a firearm registered to two different people, or to have a weapon still registered to a previous owner.

Problems like those, said Mr. Forbes, mean that "millions of Canadians will be turned into criminals on paper" particularly in light of further proposed changes to gun legislation.

He said the system "is going to create the biggest confusion and shamozzle that this country has ever seen.

At the centre of Const. Smith's criminal charge was a Browning, high-powered 9-mm handgun, which is considered a restricted weapon.

Through the series of witnesses who testified on Wednesday, the 12-member jury heard that the Browning 9-mm was delivered to Canadian Outdoor Specialties Ltd., a firearms wholesaler based in Annapolis Royal, N.S. From there, it went to the company's retail store in an adjoining building.

The handgun was then sent to a sales representative in Fredericton, who eventually sold the gun to Const. Smith on Nov. 22, 1991.

He kept the weapon until Jan. 5, 1994, when he traded it to the same man who sold it to him.

In the fall of 1994, Cpl. Denis Deveau - who works with FRAS -was asked to check the history of the 9-mm.The paper trail, he said, was not complete. In fact, according to the central registry in Ottawa, the weapon had not been previously registered when Const. Smith traded it in January 1994.

Each time the Browning changed hands, he said, there should have been a form filled out and sent to Ottawa.

On Wednesday, a civilian employee of the Hampton detachment of the RCMP told the court that she could not find any record of the application from Const.Smith.

Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Manu Patel, she said that all computer files are destroyed after two years. She said the application request could have been recorded in the detachment's log book, but that she hadn't checked.

After court on Wednesday, the original RCMP investigator visited the detachment to have a look at the log book. He found an entry on the same day Const. Smith purchased the weapon. Although the information did not specify what the firearms application was for, it was enough for Mr. Justice McLellan to instruct the jury to find the officer not guilty.

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To: <[email protected]>
From: [email protected] (Telegraph-Journal/Evening Times-Globe)
Subject: Re: Request for Permission to post

Dear Mr. Ryder: Permission granted. Thanks for your comments. Neil Reynolds.

_____________________________________________________________________________
To: [email protected] (Telegraph-Journal/Evening Times-Globe)

>Dear Sir:

>Permission is requested to post your article by Mia Urquhart, entitled "Gun registration system criticized in aftermath of trial", which appeared on page A5 of today's, Friday Mar 8, 1996, issue of the Telegraph Journal, to the [email protected].

>The Canadian Firearms Digest is a daily electronic digest of all events and issues of importance to the Recreational Firearms Community. I have already posted a summary of the trial, not including the press conference. Ms. Urquhart has done such an excellent concise job on the story I would like to post it in it's entirety with full acknowledgements.

>By the way Mr. David Tomlinson is still in Saint John, at Keddys till Saturday night. You might like to have further discussions with him. He is a veritable walking encyclopedia of the criminal code and it's weaknesses.

>Yours truly
Frank H. Ryder

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