R. v. M.R. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Strathmore, April 2018]

Police received a call from concerned family members that M.R. was going to commit suicide or otherwise harm himself and that he was in possession of several firearms. The police attended at his residence and endeavored to gain consensual access without any luck. The ultimately deployed tear gas and conducted a forced entry, locating M.R. and several firearms (which were all lawfully owned and stored). The Crown brought an application to have all the firearms forfeited. It argued that it was not in the public interest for M.R. to have his firearms returned. M.R. retained Ms. Fagan to secure the return of his firearms. A hearing was scheduled and Ms. Fagan attended on M.R.’s behalf

BOTTOM LINE: Ms. Fagan was successful in arguing that the Court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter and that the police had no authority to keep the seized firearms. All firearms were returned to M.R.