Security guard gets 3½ years for trafficking in guns

Eleven of the 16 guns Christina May Stover purchased are still unaccounted for. She was sentenced for trafficking four weapons. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Christina May Stover bought 16 guns between September 2015 and March 2016. Ruger. Glock. Smith and Wesson. Even if you don’t know the details of the weapons, you’ve likely heard the brand names. Police seized four of Stover’s firearms. Another was found in a "known drug house." Eleven are still unaccounted for — part of an arsenal of illegal weaponry police claim is at the heart of soaring rates of Lower Mainland gun violence. Stover was what’s known as a "straw purchaser": a woman with a legitimate licence to buy guns — but who actually purchased them for people who can’t legally do it themselves. Surrey Provincial Court Judge Robert Hamilton didn’t mince words when he handed the 42-year-old a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for gun trafficking just over two months ago. "Trafficking in firearms, and particularly semi-automatic handguns, is one of the most serious crimes one can commit in Canada," Hamilton wrote. "Semi-automatic handguns are easily concealed and are designed to kill, seriously maim, or critically injure other human beings … These crimes committed by Ms. Stover amount to a complete abandonment of law-abiding behaviour by someone who has the legal authority to buy and possess these weapons. The seriousness of these crimes cannot be overstated." ‘Straw purchasers’ Stover was sentenced at the end of May, but the decision was only recently made public. She […]

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