Kalashnikov machine-gun sent from the USA to Canada by mail

A 15-year-old Canadian boy received Kalashnikov machine-gun by mail from his friend living in the USA. The American boy had had  this machine-gun as a present from his mother. 
The weapon lovers are minors and for this reason their names cannot be revealed by the media. According to the court, the two teenagers met online while playing Counter-Strike computer game. This game is about fighting terrorists, rescuing hostages and committing heroic deeds of this sort.

The boys got to know each other closer and started having correspondence. They both were interested in weapons and could endlessly discuss guns. They both boasted with having some military ammunition. Then they decided to exchange the weapons they had. 

To prove the seriousness of their intentions, the boys exchanged photos. The young American exposed himself with Kalashnikov machine-gun, the Canadian guy sent the photo of him holding a pistol and a big photo of another pistol. Both the guys approved the deal.

Soon the postman brought a parcel to the house in Hamilton, Canada. The parcel description was “baseball bat”. The boy’s mother got the parcel. The woman came home after working at night and was too tired to notice that no her son’s name was on the parcel, only the computer nick. In addition, the mother did not know English well, and in the evening she handed the box to her son.

Their family arrived in Canada from former Yugoslavia several years ago. The boy is attending Catholic school. Teachers characterized him as a calm student of average abilities. Neither the school administration no the police had ever had any problems with the boy. 

The machine-gun and live cartridge set for it was hidden in the table in the boy’s bedroom, the police reported to court. The boy brought the machine-gun to school, showed to his friends and people in the local coffee-shop, threatened smaller children with it. At one point the boy was about to use the weapon: he threatened with the gun to the boy from the rival group.

Only several weeks later the teacher received the information about the student having gun and reported it to the police.

The boy was arrested, but recently released on bail. The juvenile “warrior” is accused of keeping the forbidden weapon, threat, armed attack. Any of these accusations is sufficient for many years of imprisonment.

Tracing the machine-gun sender was an easy task because the return address was on the parcel. The question is where the American teenager got the gun. Even in the USA selling machine-guns to a 15-year-old teenager is forbidden.

US court found that the machine-gun was a present to the American boy from his mother. In Michigan the law forbids selling weapon to minors, but it does not ban parents to give weapons to their kids as a present. Canadians have a different opinion on possessing weapon, and therefore cannot comprehend how it is possible for parents to give such presents to their children.

This information did not surprise US weapon lovers. “A kid has to learn how to shoot and hunt”, an owner of a US weapon store wrote in a local newspaper. “There is o principal difference between the machine-gun and hunting rifle. One can hunt with a machine-gun”.

Americans were surprised with another thing. “It is hard to bring even a small pistol to Canada”, the weapon store owner’s husband remarked. “I have never heard before of so successful attempts to bring weapon to Canada”.

US companies., such as FedEx and United Parcel Service, dealing with sending parcels accept weapons only from importers, dealers and collectors having special permission. However, the companies employees confess that it is not possible to check every one of the thousands parcels they deal with.

The Canadian boy is awaiting legal hearing in his home town, his American friend – in the USA. According to the US legislation, sending firearm weapons without special permission is punished by minimum 10 years of imprisonment. However, the prison term can be reduced because of the boy’s young age. 

The police could find no pistols the Canadian boy was promising to send to the USA. The thorough search in the boy’s house produced no results. Nobody can say if the boy really had the pistols.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of the Canadian boy is accusing the Internet which created the temptation for the two boys to play heroes. “My kids spend plenty of time online”, the lawyer confessed. “Such incidents can happen to any child”.

Lyudmila Beletskaya,
Toronto

Source: Izvestia