Tough sentence for Canadian gun smuggling pipeline supplier ... in the US

There's been plenty of discussion about how bad the illegal firearms problem is getting in Canada's larger cities. We've seen massive anti-gang squads mobilized, lots of tough talk from leaders in the media, but have we seen any high-profile cases with big sentences handed out?

For the most part, we have not. The odd smuggler catches hard time, but you don't hear about many of those cases.

However, down in the US of A, they are very happy to hand out stiff federal sentences to firearms smugglers if they catch them, as 27-year-old Mackenzie Delmas just found out. A DEA investigation found Delmas involved in a gun-smuggling ring pushing illegal firearms into the hands of Canadian criminals. Here's what the department had to say about the operation:

Delmas was a convicted felon during the conspiracy, which operated from about 2018 to 2019. Unable to buy firearms himself due to his prior conviction, Delmas deployed straw buyers to gun shows throughout South Florida to buy firearms on his behalf. The straw buyers would falsely represent to the federally licensed firearms dealers at the shows that the firearms were for them, when in fact they were for Delmas. In a little over one year, Delmas obtained 25 firearms through straw buyers. In September 2018, Canadian law enforcement intercepted some of these guns as they were being smuggled from New York to Canada. In November 2019, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized another gun connected to Delmas during a criminal investigation.

See more details here.

Delmas ended up with a 200-month sentence in federal prison, where he will certainly have a hard time smuggling any more firearms. Some online digging reveals details on others involved in this case; for instance, in January of 2021, Naomi Natal Haynes, "a citizen of Canada and United States legal resident," was handed an 84-month sentence in Florida federal court over her part in the ring. Canadian Border Services Agency had grabbed her as she tried to cross the border north with 19 handguns and a silencer hidden in a vehicle. Find more details on her sentencing here.

Note that CBSA caught her, and Canadian law enforcement also helped track down Delmas. Canadian authorities really are making a difference, and perhaps we don't see as much of their good work as we should, as some of the criminals they catch are going to jail in the US.

Unfortunately, that lack of attention could be allowing politicians to crank up their rhetoric against law-abiding firearms owners in Canada; it's easier to obfuscate the truth if the truth isn't even known. Leaders continue to blame criminal violence on legal firearms owners, even though law enforcement readily states that the majority of firearms used in gangland activity are smuggled into the country.

Some members of the media do seem to be waking up the reality, though. This recent exposé by Global News traces the route of a single handgun into the country, and the wake of destruction that firearm has left. Hopefully we'll see more of this accurate reporting in months to come, particularly as much-publicized "guns and gangs" operations ramp up. If those operations focus on criminals, instead of hassling hunters, target shooters, collectors and other law-abiding Canadians, then maybe we'll see positive results in the streets. Certainly, the last five years of pointless harassment towards legal PAL holders hasn't done a thing to reduce crime rates in Canada, as gangland shootings continue to rise.

One other related note: Remember that gun range theft in Dunmore, Alberta, earlier in the month? According to the Calgary Herald, police have made an arrest in the case, recovering several firearms (along with a pile of cash and drugs at the scene of the arrest). It is most encouraging to see law enforcement actually appear to make progress quickly in this case, as it not only reduces the danger of illegal firearms on the street, it also sends a message to other would-be criminals with the same plans. These are the Canadians they should be prosecuting and locking up.

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