Police See an Emerging Trend with 3D Firearms

The Saskatoon Police Service is seeing an emerging trend when it comes to firearms with the manufacturing of 3D printed guns on the rise. In November, police in Weyburn executed a warrant at a home for 3D printed firearms, then last month in Saskatoon, police executed a same kind of warrant in this city.

Superintendent, Patrick Nogier presented the findings to the Board of Police Commissioners last week. “Emerging trends is really when you talk about “ghost guns”. When you talk about “ghost guns”, primarily what we’re talking about here is the creation of a gun that would be done through a 3D printer or actually trying to manufacture a gun that would work by buying various trigger parts, various barrel mechanisms, various sights and putting a gun together.”

Nogier calls the emergence of 3D printed guns and the appearance of them resembling a legitimate firearm very alarming. He adds they have to ensure the SPS has good communication with the CBSA so items that may be used to create “ghost guns” can be recognized and seized.

3D printed or “ghost guns” were presented in a recent firearms report by the SPS.

The report showed Saskatoon Police seized 590 firearms in 2021. The majority, 66 per cent of the guns seized were used in a criminal manner. The remaining 34 per cent were firearms turned into police for destruction and were not associated to any criminal event. There were 168 incidents involving guns in Saskatoon last year. Fifty-four incidents involved a gunshot with 27 people suffering injuries from a firearm.

Saskatoon’s core neighbourhoods are where the majority of firearm discharges are happening. That includes the Riversdale, Pleasant Hill, King George and Meadowgreen areas. A map reviewed by the Board of Police Commissioners last week, shows a few clusters of where triggers were pulled in the Massey Place, Mayfair and Sutherland neighbourhoods, while the rest of the city’s gun activity is spread out across the east side and in the neighbourhoods west of the Confederation Drive/22nd Street intersection. Gang motivated or associated, accounted for 15 of the firearm discharges throughout 2021 in Saskatoon. Drug trafficking or drug debts accounted for 5, robbery 3, domestic dispute or personal conflict 8 and 23 were categorized as unknown with Nogier noting they could have fallen under any of the four categories, but investigators weren’t able to pinpoint an exact motive.