Photo: Chelsey Mutter file photo

Maxwell Buchanan was arrested with a illegal firearm after a 911 call said he'd spotted holding what appeared to be a firearm in Polson Park

A Vernon man was found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm after unsuccessfully arguing he’d taken it from a friend for their own protection.

A recently-published provincial court decision found Maxwell Buchanan, 29, guilty of possession of an unloaded, prohibited, or restricted firearm along with readily accessible ammunition, and possessing a firearm without being the holder of a registration certificate.

Charges stem from an incident on Jan. 9, 2023 when a woman called 911 saying a man named Buchanan was walking through Polson Park with what appeared to be a shotgun.

Mounties attended the scene and arrested Buchanan nearby with a prohibited firearm in his backpack and three rounds of ammunition in his pants pocket. He also had a plastic cylinder with .22 caliber rounds and an empty shotgun shell in his jacket, and a box of bullets.

According to court documents, Buchanan’s reason for possessing the firearm and his intention for it were called into question.

Buchanan, who’d been homeless for eight months at the time of his arrest, argued the gun was a possession of his friend who's since overdosed and passed away.

He said his friend showed him the firearm at a well-known drug house where Buchanan frequented. His friend’s behaviour had deteriorated over time and, worrying for his friend's safety, Buchanan convinced the man to give him the gun and ammunition.

Once getting the gun, Buchanan said he realized he didn’t want it and intended to hand it over to the cops at the RCMP after-hours door. He then received a call from a friend and headed to Polson Park to help them with a personal matter.

Provincial court Judge Steven Wilson found inconsistencies in Buchanan’s story when comparing his trial evidence versus his statement to police when arrested.

During trial, Buchanan said he got the gun, ammunition and empty shell from his friend, then during cross-examination he said he didn’t carry spent ammunition. In his statement upon his arrest, he told police he purchased the ammunition without a license and he’d disassembled them to launch like a firework.

“Mr. Buchanan agreed that at no time during his 45-minute interview with Cst. Kineshanko did he ever mention that he: (a) had only obtained the gun a few hours earlier; (b) got the gun from [his friend] because he was concerned; and (c) was intending to hand it over to the police as soon as he could,” reads Wilson’s written judgement.

“I consider Mr. Buchanan’s evidence of his plan to voluntarily hand over the gun to police, when viewed as a whole, to be implausible.”

Wilson also noted Buchanan stayed at the drug house with the gun easily accessible to his friend, and when he was arrested, Buchanan was heading in the opposite direction of the RCMP office.

Wilson found Buchanan guilty of the weapons charge but acquitted of one count possession of break-in tools.