Eton Rugby resident and former gunsmith Bruce Montague will serve up to 18 months in jail following sentencing at Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday.

By Reg Clayton
Wednesday March 19, 2008

Eton Rugby resident and former gunsmith Bruce Montague will serve up to 18 months in jail following sentencing at Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday. Montague was found guilty on 26 firearms offences by an 11-member jury in December.

The convictions carry sentences ranging from six to 18 months to be served concurrently followed by one year probation. Forfeiture of approximately 200 firearms seized from the Montagues’ rural residence was deferred pending the outcome of an anticipated appeal and determination of items deemed antiques or family heirlooms.

Justice John Wright also prohibited Montague from owning or possessing firearms for the rest of his life.

Defence attorney Doug Christie is hopeful his client’s stay in jail will be temporary as he is seeking a bail hearing pending an appeal to be filed in Toronto later this week. Christie said the appeal will address both the conviction and sentencing on “constitutional and evidentiary” grounds.

Despite facing time in jail, Montague remains unswayed in his convictions that Canada’s Firearms Act infringes on the rights of citizens to own guns.

“Licencing has become so onerous they’re gradually eliminating private ownership of firearms through this licencing scheme,” Montague said during a break in the court proceedings. “I’ve fought back, trying to reclaim lost ground, peacefully, openly and non-violently. We’re being legislated out of existence, piece by piece and enough is enough.”

Montague’s wife Donna, facing three firearms related charges, received a suspended sentence and six months probation. The strain was apparent on the mother of three who described the experience in terms of “shock and disbelief.”

“They’ve taken away our livelihood, raped our home through search and seizure, destroyed my family by putting my husband in jail and by putting a lien on our house,” she said. “That’s how I interpret what’s happening. If our Canadian forefathers were watching here today they’d roll over in their graves. They didn’t fight for this.”

The Montagues were arrested in the summer of 2004 following Bruce’s appearance at a Dryden gun show while wearing a rifle and a sign indicating the .22 calibre rifle was not registered. A search of their residence turned up a number of guns but Montague spent more than a week in custody before providing police with access to a secret room in the basement where most of the seized firearms were stored.

In his eight-page summation, Justice Wright rejected Crown Attorney Peter Keen’s request for a jail sentence of two to three years as excessive, given the circumstances of the case as presented to the court.

Wright acknowledged police concerns about Montague given the number of guns and large amount of ammunition found in his possession, the prohibited weapons, serial numbers removed, silencers and dynamite. There were also books and manuals on topics ranging from explosives, firearms conversion, survival techniques and infantry tactics.

The judge tempered his characterization of the defendant as “stubborn and tenacious to a fault” by referring to reports which described Montague as “frugal, hard working, church going, a productive, useful and valued member of the community” with no prior criminal record. “In fact the accused proved to be a decent, hard working, otherwise law-abiding citizen,” Judge Wright stated. “The trouble is that Mr. Montague is cursed with a sense of Armageddon. He has a vision of a world in flames with every man having to look after himself and his family.”

He noted while Montague undertook a deliberate course of action to challenge the constitutionality of the firearms regulations in court, the defendant undermined his position by engaging in illegal activities, specifically by altering semiautomatic firearms to fire automatically, removal of serial numbers, manufacture of silencers and disregard of storage regulations regarding loaded weapons. Justice Wright deemed the three counts of altering semi-automatic firearms to fire automatically as the most serious of the charges presented in the case as conviction carries a mandatory one year to a maximum 10 year jail sentence.

“There was no legitimate reason to have automatic weapons. The manufacture of automatic weapons did nothing to advance his claim that the gun laws in question were unconstitutional,” he stated.

Although the alterations were not made for financial gain or to engage in criminal activity, Wright deemed Montague’s actions as “simply an exercise of ego” proving that he had the skills to do so and that he was “immune from punishment”.

“A message must be sent to those who are tempted to play with semiautomatic weapons that converting them to automatic fire is ‘verboten’.” Justice Wright surmised.

On the three counts, Justice Wright sentenced Montague to serve 18 months. Additional convictions also carried jail terms to be served concurrently:

• four counts removing serial numbers – 12 months;
• nine counts possession of prohibited or restricted firearms stored loaded or with ready access to ammunition – 12 months;
• one count of possession of a silenced .22 caliber pistol – 12 months;
• five counts of possession of prohibited devices – 90 days to be served in the community;
• possession of oversize magazines – 90 days to be served in the community;
• two counts improper storage of nonrestricted firearms, suspended – one year probation.
• possession of firearms without a licence – six months;

Link: http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/...