Two sawed off shotguns (courtesy imfdb.com)

“A first-time drug dealer [not shown] who ‘went from zero to 100 miles an hour’ was sentenced Friday to the equivalent of almost six years in prison,” ourwindsor.ca reports with plenty of equivocation. “Michael Nicholls, 26, had no criminal record of any kind when he was caught with a pharmacy of hard drugs and an arsenal of weapons to protect them in his Kitchener apartment.” Ah yes, an arsenal. I don’t think that means what the reporter thinks it means . . .

Along with an assortment of drugs, Canadian cops confiscated

…two sawed-off shotguns, a handgun, two flick knives, a stun gun, bulletproof vests, brass knuckles, a truncheon, a machete, an expandable baton and ammunition . . . The handgun, which had been stolen 15 years earlier, was in a bedroom night table, and one of the shotguns was stashed under the couch Nicholls was sitting on when police came in. ‘It was virtually a warehouse of weapons — including guns — and drugs,’ said federal prosecutor Kathleen Nolan. ‘It really looked like he was going to war.’

Kathleen needs to get out more. Or not.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

74 COMMENTS

    • And by the way – “No criminal record” doesn’t mean he was a choir boy up until then, only that they were not good enough to catch him previously.

      • One of the times my friends and I went for a long range day, our cars rode very very low on the rear axles from the weight of the firearms and ammo. It was humorous the ammount of firearms we had.

        • I recall a day, long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (the ’70s) when six of us crammed ourselves and our guns into a Chevy-II station wagon for an afternoon of noisy fun out on Pelican Island, actually a peninsula on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. We had among us at least five rifles, two shotguns, six handguns, several cap’n’ball revolvers, and a couple of pickle buckets full of ammo, not to mention a cooler full of beer (you were young and dumb once, too – don’t try to deny it). Since we didn’t have enough cases to cover all our guns at once, and there was no other place to put them, most were sitting in the open in our laps. Well, we got pulled over – six disreputable looking long-hairs in a rattle trap car, heavily and obviously armed. The Ill. Highway patrol officer confirmed that the drivers license and registration were in order, made sure we were going somewhere safe to shoot (levee for a backstop), said “have fun” and sent us on our way.

          Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away.

      • Really. Right behind me in my closet I have stored 3 shotguns, 1 ak-47, 1 ar-15, and 1 .30-06 rifles. I have a 9mm auto with 3 16-round magazines in my nightstand, a .357mag. revolver downstairs, a .38 special revolver in my Jeep, and my wife has a .22mag revolver in her purse. I have around 2,500 rounds of ammo. And I’m the gun-poor guy in my group of friends. I would not wish to attempt even a skirmish with my weaponry, let alone attempt waging a whole war. These journos are clueless. Well, the ones who aren’t just liars, anyway.

        • Thank you for signing up for national gun registry, your cooperation is greatly appreciated, comrade.

        • D2, ROHC, we’ve all become targets, you guys too, by logging onto TTAG. Whether or not you own a gun isn’t important. You’ve made subversive comments on a subversive site.

        • JWM, I’m a member of the NRA, I’m a vet with three deployment under my belt, I’ve voted libertarian or third party in every elections I’ve been old enough to vote for, and I’ve held a CHL and hunting license of years…

          If there’s a “list”, I’m no doubt already one it- TTAG would the least of my worries.

          But, I’m still not posting a list all of my goodies on the Internet.

    • The reporter did show enough restraint to not mention the drawer of steak knives in the kitchen and the toilet plunger in the bathroom.

      Also from the report:
      “Why does one have body armour?” he asked, as Nicholls’ mother cried in the front row. “It’s to do battle. That’s what this was really set up for.”

      Um, no… It’s to stop bullets.

      • I don’t understand the fear/avoidance of ballistic armor/clothing by both the pro/anti-disarmament crowds. It seems in some ways like one of the logical first steps in staying safe against assault.

        Sure, it’s inconvenient, won’t stop some ammunition, and won’t stop head shots, but armor doesn’t take a lot of training/practice, can’t be used offensively (unless used with weapons), and would have prevented some deaths. At least it makes the job harder for the assailant, increasing the gun power* or shot placement requirements.

        *gun power = SBO penetration, therefore typically more brass and powder weight (and with handguns usually less concealability) for similar wounding effects.

        • Don’t know any POTG who have a problem with body armor (except the expense) but I believe the reason the disarmament crowd is opposed is because their goal is to feel safe not to actually be safer. Kinda hard to feel like there are no threats out there when you’re wearing a couple dozen pounds of armor.

  3. I personally find a screencap from the Resident Evil movies far more horrifying than this drug-dealing lowlife’s piddly stash.

    • Don’t be silly, the “Real players” you speak of are all likely getting supplied by Eric Holder.

  5. Two measely sawed offs and a handgun compromises an arsenal in Canuckistan? Do they have a standing army of 3/4 of a person, because that is the only way I can see this as an arsenal fit to “go to war”.

    • The canuk army premier infantry unit is the “Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry”. And for many years they they have allowed chicks in anywhere down to infantry squad level. If that won’t scare the commies to death – “Oh no the Princess are to come going to wup on us (once a month)”

      And WTF is a “flick” knive? A locking folder?

      • Sometimes referred to as a “gravity knife”. Usually a lock-back folder with a separate lock and button to hold it shut instead of a spring. Originally a work-around for jurisdictions where spring operated automatic knives (switchblades) were prohibited. Push the button and the blade is hanging free to “flick” into position, locked open for use.

    • Yes, because Canada is proud of being a nation that can be invaded over lunch by a pack of Webelos, flown in by Piper Cubs, armed with nothing more Red Rider BB guns and penknives taped onto the muzzle with electrical tape by way of a bayonet.

      So for them, yes, two sawn-down shotguns is a military arsenal.

  6. If that’s what they consider an arsenal, they really must start looking at the rest of the world.
    +1 for the pic, akimbo shotguns might be stupid as hell, but Milla Jovovich can hold me up any day.

  7. Media definition of “Arsenal” = more than one firearm and more than one 10 round magazine*

    *In New York, more than 7 rounds in any firearm
    *In NYC, more than 5 rounds in any long gun

  8. um, does canada have a law defining and regulating “sawed-off” shotguns, I was under the impression that they didnt.

    • Here’s a webpage about shotgun barrel lengths under Canadian law:

      https://nfa.ca/resource-items/barrel-and-firearms-lengths

      It’s confusing, to say the least. My understanding, after skimming the page, is that a 12 Ga. pump shotgun with a barrel of less than 18″ is legal in Canada if it was originally manufactured that way…if the barrel has been shortened after it was manufactured, it’s prohibited.

      • ah, that makes sense I was under the impression that they didnt have any barrel length restrictions at all.

        • Ah yes. It makes sooo much sense. /sarc

          (I know you didn’t mean it like that. Just pointing out the legal stupidity.)

      • So a serbu “super shorty” is fine, but a shotgun that has actually been sawed off is illegal? Because one was manufactured in a factory and the other in a garage?

  10. Maybe the wife and I should stop calling the gun room “The Armory”. The news folk would have a coronary.

    You get one gun and one bullet. No magazines because those are dangerous. Oh and that bullet had better not be in a chamber, it could go off of its own free will….

    Arsenal….. Right.

  11. I want to know how the gamers who’s page supplied the picture will reload those “dual” shotguns, as their hands would be both full and disabled by the recoil.
    Just sayin

    • It has long been understood, that when a weapon goes offscreen, magical gnomes reload them for the player. This same principle applies to when the player reloads an unlimited supply of magazines that ALL have 30 rounds in them, because the gnomes have an equally magical bag of which to follow the player around with.

      • They don’t all have 30 rounds in them, its just that the gnomes take your half and quarter empty mags and transfer all the stragglers to other mags and top them all off. Its not that all my mags have 30 in them, its that all the ones I have left have 30

        • They only have 30 if you run the gun dry. Otherwise, they only have 29. Medal of Honor is the only exception to this rule that I know of. Although you do have to fire at least one round in order to top off your gun.

      • I laughed so hard at this my wife had to put her hand on my back and ask if I was okay!

        Long live ARMA 3, where there are no magazine gnomes, it doesn’t take 20 rounds to kill someone, full-auto doesn’t mean you can put fifty rounds through the same hole at 50 yards, and bullets are subject to the law of gravity!

    • Why reload? She can just drop them and draw the two mini uzis hidden on her back. Can you imagine how boring and realistic the Matrix lobby scene would have been if they bothered to reload?

  12. I love the way they try to dramatise his arsenal by including all his edged and contact tools. I’m surprised they don’t include his weed whacker from the garage.

  13. I’m remind of a line from ‘Family Guy’. Talking about a faux report from the UK. ‘A man with a gun and two bullets has taken over the city of Manchester.’

  14. Prosecutors from the US or Canada seem to like to play to news media to pump up the headlines.
    If it is not for attention, it is to position themselves for a higher office or simply for sensationalism sake to make believe “they are doing” something to the low information voters.

    I believe sometimes they have taken as many acting lessons as they have law classes — and sometimes their acting classes seems to suite them better.

  15. Here in MD, the State Prosecutor altered transcript of a court ruling to cover her assess. By deleting it. I have proof. What can you do. They are the law. Corruption runs wild.

  16. At some point, just having a “frightening” looking collection will be reasonable cause enough for “something” alone.

    We had wildfires here last year, and there was a mandatory evacuation. I managed to take most of my (airquotes) “stockpile” with me, but the police were searching houses for people remaining.

    One of these days, this is gonna be a thing, I’m sure of it.

  17. I think TTAG should write up some guide lines for the MSM. I like their definitions because it inflates my collection from “has a couple guns and reloading equipment” to “has an arsenal, veritable ammo factory, and components for a bomb (AKA pressure cooker)”. But I think we can come up with some uncommon sense definitions for them.

    • Add to that a few hundred pounds of lead, a melting pot to cast your own bullets and making your own black powder. The antis would go into meltdown mode if they knew gunpowder could be made from scratch.

  19. Yep, I keep having hard factual evidence sprayed across the front page that the inmates are running the asylum.

  21. Everything is becoming an arsenal now, just like everything is becoming an assault weapon.

    It’s not a game of truths, it’s a game of words.

  24. Meh, Canada…. explains the confusion. Don’t know if they have access to a Merriam-Webster dictionary, but it reveals this:

    ar·se·nal noun \ˈärs-nəl, ˈär-sə-\

    : a collection of weapons

    : a place where weapons are made or stored

    : a group of things or people that are available to be used

    Full Definition of ARSENAL

    1
    a : an establishment for the manufacture or storage of arms and military equipment
    b : a collection of weapons

    2
    : store, repertoire

    So according to the dictionary, any “collection” of weapons is an arsenal. Does two count? How about three? Me thinks hyperbole is at work.

    Hyperbole: Full Definition of HYPERBOLE

    : extravagant exaggeration (as “mile-high ice-cream cones”)

    Examples of HYPERBOLE

    Four decades later we’re all blabbermouths, adrift on a sea of hyperbole, shouting to be heard. —Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, 1 Apr. 2002

  25. And henceforth one can see WHY I left Canuckistan (forever) after living there for 51 years and seeing it devolve during the last 30 years, into the pathetic police state it is now. God Bless America and always be vigilant this never happens here… even though many in power are trying their best to emulate Canuckistan’s “gun laws”.

  27. Apparently some of the more virulent anti-gun groups in the United States are training the victims of gun violence to act even more pitiful and to get better press coverage and sympathy as well.

    Yes Canada has problems with gun control and bias but one thing I’ve been hearing is that in Canada you can actually get ammunition and yes from the same companies that produce it here in the US. The problem here being disreputable distributors and dealers taking cases and auctioning them off at scalpers prices on websites. Look into what Sportmans Supply does on gunbroker and gunauction, but I digress.

    What I was going to say was that while in college at a small 2 year school along the Canadian border in North Dakota we basically lived in an armed camp. Having bows hanging from the ceilings, including my own, was considered decor. I think 85%+ of the guys and many of the girls had guns. We were supposed to keep them in the dorm lock up, but after seeing resident assistants messing with sites, many guns ended up trunks of vehicles or stashed in the rooms. I would estimate the number of guns on campus at around 200 to 300 since most people had more than 1.

    During one lock down period after someone, I think a high school kid but they blamed us, stole a flag from the border patrol office we spent several very tense minutes stashing arms and ammo into any hole we could find. When I shared a suite I think we had 8 or 9 guns between myself and my suite mates. And several hundred rounds of ammo.

    We also had a fish and game cleaning station on campus. And most of the students and faculty took the first few days of deer season off.

    No one was ever shot not really even close. We even had a clock tower and the running joke was that if anyone was dumb enough to climb into the tower and start shooting they would have lasted about 10 seconds in reality about a minute and a half.

    Is an armed society a polite society? Usually but only if there are some morals and standards of behavior backing it up. Screw it let’s just re-insate duelling but with no seconds. You insult someone or screw them over it’s choice of weapons time.

Comments are closed.