r/canadaguns • u/WetNightmares • 29d ago
News / Politics / Activism Ontario judge sentences handgun trafficker to house arrest after mandatory minimum declared unconstitutional
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-judge-sentences-handgun-trafficker-to-house-arrest-after-mandatory-minimum-declared-unconstitutional206
u/PickledThimble 29d ago edited 29d ago
But here we are, 10 years of imprisonment if we happen to have anything the government deems to be too scary to have.... This is brutal...
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u/Scribble_Box 29d ago
This just gives me even more reason to hold on to em. A handgun trafficker gets house arrest? Alright. Zero incentive unless they actually come knocking lmao.
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u/PickledThimble 29d ago
Couldn't agree more... What has Canada truly become?
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u/jwubadubdub 29d ago
Immigrants to Canada fleeing communist/authoritarian states have some strong opinions on this question
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u/Automatic_Tie9615 29d ago
10 IQ comment. No shit it's better, it doesn't mean we aren't getting worse.
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u/jwubadubdub 28d ago
It's obviously getting much worse, quickly.
They have strong opinions because Canada is becoming communist/authoritarian
The irony of calling anyone low IQ 🤣
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u/Reasonable_Hall2346 29d ago
Of course. Obtaining a firearms license, legally buying, storing and transporting is magnitudes worse than just handgun smuggling.
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u/BuddyGuy17 29d ago
So when he re-offends he will get jail time right ? … right!?
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u/milanskiv 29d ago
No, he will just be confined to a smaller area of his house
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u/JipJopJones 29d ago
"Go to your room!"
- The government probably
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u/nobodyspecial506 nb 29d ago
2/3 time served. Parole ASAP
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u/AnvilsHammer 29d ago
1/3 and you are parole eligible. 2/3 is you will be released with conditions unless you are given dangerous offender status.
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u/lanteenboy 29d ago
This is definitely sending the message that firearms crime is considered a serious matter.
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u/swift_gilford 29d ago
after mandatory minimum declared unconstitutional
If mandatory minimum is considered unconstitutional then we don't have "mandatory minimums"
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u/PhantomNomad al 29d ago
Just because we don't have a mandatory minimum doesn't mean they should be allowed to wander the street either. I'm sure jail time could have been given, even up to the maximum.
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u/4r4nd0mninj4 29d ago
The judge would have given him less time, if she could have. 🤷♂️
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u/SirKickBan 29d ago
Down a ways into the article it mentions that other members of the conspiracy got much harsher sentences, but that the judge believed this individual, alongside one other, had relatively minor roles that didn't merit heavy sentencing.
“On this continuum of criminal behaviour, I find that the gravity of Mr. Wright’s offence and his moral blameworthiness sits more closely on the spectrum to that of his co-accused who also received a conditional sentence for her peripheral involvement, than with those offenders who were intimately involved in planning, importing and the execution of the trafficking operation itself,”
My read is that he was just a mule, basically.
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u/PhantomNomad al 29d ago
Yeah I read that part also. Not convinced that they where just a mule. Granted they where privy to much more information then I was. I still think gun trafficking need stronger sentences no matter where you are on the food chain. But I also think our justice system should be more about reform then punishment. So I'm flip flopping on this I guess.
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u/SirKickBan 29d ago
I tend to agree broadly, I think. If they are a mule, then they're probably right in the 'can be reformed' area, and also a spot where like.. -Literally anybody could become a mule, so keeping them off the streets doesn't do a lot, and harsh punishments to try and deter it don't work well when the potential pool of people for the role is so huge.
But it does all depend on information we don't have access to.
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u/HappyCan7250 29d ago
I suspect even when we had "mandatory minimums", charges would be pled down to summary (misdemeanor) offenses offen, to avoid handing out minimums. I.e, drug trafficker with stolen handgun pleads guilty to possession of a controlled substance and the gun chathe disappears
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u/guestpassonly 29d ago
What the hell...
“The court should remain mindful of the principle of restraint for a first-time, relatively youthful offender with an established rehabilitation plan.”
Maybe also remind the court of the kind of people that then buy these handguns off of him and what THEY then do with em huh?
It's not IPSC that's for damn sure.
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u/IGnuGnat 29d ago
Clearly what we have here is not a justice system; rather, it is a system of injustice. The whole system is so obviously a farce that it's becoming a joke. The options at this point are: Laugh, cry, or go mad.
I choose to laugh and laugh and laugh
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u/PhantomNomad al 29d ago
Yeah I started laughing all the time. Turns out that's a sign of madness.
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u/HappyCan7250 29d ago
It honestly baffles me that the country isnt outraged with the Liberals. Like is there actually people who look at our "justice" system and go "Yeah! Elbows up! Great job liberals, more criminals back on the streets!"
Its fucking ridiculous. How many innocent citizens have ended up dead at the hands of ideological judges and prosecutors? A hell of a lot more than at the hands of legal gun owners.
I wanna see judges changed with gross negligence they release a repeat offender who goes on to harm someone.
Liberals have somehow converted half the country into cult members who cheer on the utter failure of government
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u/InsufficientlyClever 29d ago
So they straight up murdered Kotanko for suspected handgun trafficking, and give house arrest for a convicted handgun trafficker.
How does any of this make sense?
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u/IGnuGnat 29d ago
I don't think he trafficked jack shit; I think that was a setup or cover up for someone else's crime. If you look at the details it stinks. Allegedly, Kotanko tried to file off serial numbers that trace back to him. Anyone who knows anything about firearms knows that the authorities can still extract traces of the serial number if not the whole serial number, after filing: Kotanko certainly would have known this.
I think it's highly likely that he sold the guns legally, to someone ELSE who allowed them to get into the wrong hands.
That someone else was probably the kid of a politician or a police officer.
It was a set up. I really hope we find out what really happened one day, Canadians deserve to know the truth.
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u/InsufficientlyClever 28d ago
100% the way the Kotanko killing played out stinks to hell. There's just too much that doesn't make sense.
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u/GanjaPirate1513 29d ago
Yet here I have a buddy who got 15yrs in prison for being an accomplice to something he couldn't control..what a fuckin joke
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u/LeviathanOfLiberty 29d ago
> Trafficking in handguns is “‘particularly malignant’ because they serve no lawful purpose in our society,” said the judge.
lol
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u/JurboVolvo 29d ago
We’ve known mandatory minimum sentences were unconstitutional for a while. I don’t actually see how it’s relevant to their obviously way too lax sentencing. House arrest for this this wild and yeah they should be in jail but not using mandatory minimum sentencing.
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u/4r4nd0mninj4 29d ago
Judges hate mandatory minimums because it prevents them from letting criminals off with a slap on the wrist. 🤷♂️
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u/99spider 29d ago
Mandatory minimums are not universally unconstitutional. They are only unconstitutional when the crime as defined, in its most minor form, produces a level of harm to society that is far below what the minimum sentence would be appropriate for. This generally happens because our laws were written by idiots.
For example, the minimum sentence for discharging a firearm at a dwelling was found unconstitutional because using something like a paintball gun would still fit the definition of the crime.
First degree murder still has a long standing mandatory minimum sentence of life, because no one has successfully argued that a sufficiently minor case of first degree murder could exist to make that punishment unfit for the crime.
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u/NotALanguageModel 29d ago
The government could have just used the Notwithstanding clause after the activist SoC struck down mandatory minimums for no legitimate reason.
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u/Low-HangingFruit 28d ago
We keep appointing ambulance chasers as judges and we keep getting bs results.
She was appointed under Trudeaus judge appointment scheme where they were checking appointments against liberal donlr lists. I wonder how much that appointment cost her.
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u/Dunhamburg 28d ago
The system is telling gun owners to stop renewing their PAL and keep their guns without a valid license if they expect any leniency.
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u/Mr_Canada1867 29d ago
LMFAOO
Folks here actually thought they were going to end up behind bars if they didn’t over their pink GSG-16 😂🤣
If they dont put gun smugglers in prison, they sure ain’t putting Mike from Canmore behind bars either
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u/password_is_09lk8H5f on 29d ago
Oh my sweet summer child, they will go after you. You are not of the privileged and protected class. This individual does not have agency, they are simply a product of their circumstance. You however...
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u/[deleted] 29d ago
[deleted]