Gerald Stanley to pay $3,900 and receive 10-year ban on gun ownership for improper firearm storage

CBC News · Posted: Apr 16, 2018 8:39 AM CT | Last Updated: April 16   Photo: Guy Quenneville/CBC

Gerald Stanley has been fined $3,000, plus a $900 victim surcharge, and banned from owning firearms for 10 years after he pleaded guilty Monday to improper storage of firearms. Police discovered the guns at Stanley’s property when they were responding to Colten Boushie’s fatal shooting, of which Stanley was acquitted.

At the hearing in a courtroom in North Battleford, Sask., a second charge relating to improper storage of a restricted firearm — a handgun — was withdrawn by the Crown, citing insufficient evidence.

The Crown and defence requested a $3,000 fine for Stanley, forfeiture of some of his guns and a firearm ban.

Stanley’s lawyer, Scott Spencer, said the guns in question were “typical rural firearms” similar to those found on many farms. “Mr. Stanley frankly wishes he never owned a gun … Mr. Stanley has no desire to ever hold a gun again,” said Spencer.

Photos of guns found in Gerald Stanley’s basement. (RCMP)

The seven guns alleged to be stored improperly by Stanley, as listed in the court file, are a J. Stevens Arms Company 520 rifle; a .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle; a.22-calibre bolt-action rifle; a Winchester 1200 shotgun; a Lakefield Mark 2 .22-calibre rifle; and a Winchester 1894 rifle. A previous charge relating to a Ruger Blackhawk .45-calibre handgun was dropped. A prosecutor for the Crown said none of the guns were disabled.

Photos of guns found in Gerald Stanley’s basement. (RCMP)

The Tokarev pistol Stanley testified he was holding when it went off and killed Boushie is not among the guns listed. Stanley testified during his trial that he normally used that gun to scare off coyotes. On the day Boushie was shot, he and his son were planning to shoot targets.