The Vancouver Police Department has arrested four men after discovering firearms at a tent city on East Hastings Street.
On Sunday at 8 a.m., police officers raided a tent after receiving a tip that drugs and guns were being stored on the premises.
Two firearms were seized including one loaded shotgun.
“We’re growing increasingly concerned for public safety in and around the encampment,” said Sgt. Steve Addison.
“Violence against the public and against our officers is on the rise throughout the Downtown Eastside, and the proliferation of guns in the encampment increases the risk to everyone.”
One 40-year-old man from Vancouver and another 23-year-old man from Burnaby were arrested alongside two other men from Surrey. Both were in their 20s.
According to Addison, the guns were being used by the group for protection and intimidation.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on the importation of legal handguns.
The move was instituted without the oversight of parliament. According to Alberta Chief Firearms Officer Teri Bryant said the ban will have little impact on gun crime.
“You’re talking about banning the import of things for use by people who are the most law-abiding, and that can’t possibly have any effect on people who are criminally misusing firearms,” Bryant said in an interview with True North.
“They will see that these are not the people that they should be worried about.”
Numerous current and former law enforcement officers have spoken out against Liberal government gun bans.
“There’s no way in my world or any world I know that this [a handgun ban] would have an impact on somebody who’s going to go out and buy an illegal gun and use it to kill another person or shoot another person,” claimed President of the Toronto Police Association Mike McCormack in 2018.
