OTTAWA – The Prime Minister’s Office entered a dispute Friday between residents of flood-ravaged High River and the RCMP over the seizure of firearms from homes in the evacuated southern Alberta town.
The Mounties said Thursday they had seized guns from homes in the flood zone and put them in a safe place.
That angered High River residents, who have been anxious to return to their homes to assess flood damage.
An evacuation order for the town of about 13,000 residents was in its ninth day Friday.
The guns should be returned to their owners, said a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“We expect that any firearms taken will be returned to their owners as soon as possible,” said press secretary Carl Vallee, who added that the Mounties should be dealing with more pressing matters.
“We believe the RCMP should focus on more important tasks such as protecting lives and private property.”
Critics were quick to complain that the Harper government should not be dictating how the Mounties should conduct their operations.
An RCMP official said any guns removed from homes were not properly stored. Police officers were inspecting several homes to look for flood victims, pets and anything that might pose a threat to returning residents.
RCMP spokeswoman Const. Francine Hennelly said when officers entered homes to search for people, “if we identified any pets or hazards, we would respond accordingly.”
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“We seized any firearms that were noted that were in plain view,” she said. “We seized what we saw that could potentially be a hazard.
“Anything properly stored in gun lockers was left.”
In a statement released Friday, the RCMP said officers found that many gun owners had actually laid out their guns in plain view in order to move valuable possessions to higher ground in their homes.
The weapons were tagged for return to their owners “as soon as is practically possible.”
“The last thing any gun owner wants is to have their guns fall into the wrong hands. Residents of High River can be assured that firearms now in possession of the RCMP are in safe hands, and will be returned to them as soon as is practically possible,” said assistant commissioner Marianne Ryan.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford said she was disappointed to face questions about the gun situation. She suggested there were more important issues to deal with coming out of the flood disaster.
“Let’s just make it very clear, the provincial government did not take away anyone’s guns,” Redford said. “The RCMP went in and secured a community that had been evacuated. And as part of that work, as I understand it, they went into houses where there were firearms that weren’t properly secured and, as opposed to leaving them sitting on fireplace mantles in a town that was evacuated, they secured those guns.
“There is no suggestion that people will not be able to have their guns back again, and I really hope we can focus on more important matters at hand, such as getting 12,000 people back into High River.”
Asked about the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Redford wouldn’t get into it.
“The prime minister was in Calgary last Friday flying over High River with me and I think he saw the devastation and the impact in the community,” she said. “I’m certain there are people in the Prime Minister’s Office that have an opinion about this.
“I’m not going to comment any further.”
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