Ottawa

Ottawa police seized 850 guns from a collector — now they're giving them back

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Legally owned guns seized in August, catalogued, police say

Ottawa police tweeted this photo of some of the collector's guns Wednesday. (Ottawa Police Service)

Ottawa police say they have seized and catalogued roughly 850 legally owned guns from a local collector — a process that took two months to complete — but no charges will be laid.

Police say they were called to the home in the city's Heron Gate neighbourhood in August and took the firearms — which included "rifles, handguns, machine guns, ammunition and various weapons," according to an Ottawa police tweet — to ensure all were legal and none had been used in a crime.

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Const. Amy Gagnon says it took five cargo vans to carry all the weapons, which she says will be returned to their rightful owner now that they've been catalogued.

Gagnon says the collector co-operated with investigators as they double-checked the guns' legitimacy.

She notes the Criminal Code doesn't put a limit on how many guns a private citizen can legally own.

She says it's common for police to find collectors who have 200 to 300 guns, but 850 is highly unusual.