BATTLEFORD – A Lloydminster, Sask., man has been handed a federal prison sentence for selling handguns – that he legally owned – to people illegally. One gun was used in an Edmonton murder, court heard.
Brett Wangler, 32, was sentenced May 29 in Battleford Court of King’s Bench to three years in prison.
“It is with regret that I come to the conclusion that Wangler must serve this prison time,” said Justice Brian Scherman. “I appreciate that, aside from the impact this sentence will have on Wangler himself, it also has very significant impacts on his daughter, partner, parents, siblings, employers and generally those with relationships to Wangler. That being said, the appropriate message of denunciation and deterrence must be sent.”
Wangler’s trial started on June 7, 2023, and he was found guilty. Sentencing submissions by the Crown and defence were heard in April 2024.
The Crown had asked the court for a 4.5 to 5.5-year prison sentence, whereas the defence asked for a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community, along with a term of probation.
Justice Scherman pointed out that the Criminal Code states every person who trafficks a restricted firearm is liable to a penalty not exceeding 10 years of imprisonment and, in the case of a first offence, to a minimum punishment of three years.
“It is clear that significant custodial sentences are warranted even for first-time offenders," said Justice Scherman. "The courts have repeatedly spoken to the seriousness of the crime of weapons trafficking.
“It is a crime to facilitate crime. Those who buy and sell firearms know the risk of serious bodily harm or death inherent in their eventual use on the streets in connection with drug deals, robberies, homicides and other crimes of violence. Nevertheless, they proceed to deal in them for financial or other reasons. While such trafficking may not make such dealers parties to the many crimes committed by the ultimate users of the firearms, such trafficking is an indispensable step in the chain of events leading to such tragedy on the streets. For these reasons, the trafficking of firearms attracts the same emphasis on general and specific deterrence and denunciation as do the crimes of violence committed by the actual users of the firearms, in my view.
“Wangler knew he was committing an offence,” added Justice Scherman. “The fact that he had a Restricted Possession and Acquisition Licence (RPAL) satisfies me that he would have received the training and information provided in respect of the restrictions on the possession, use and transfer of restricted weapons. Beyond that, s. 99 expressly makes the transfer of a restricted weapon to a person that is not authorized by law to possess such weapon an offence. Wangler is presumed to know the law.”
One of the handguns that Wangler sold illegally, a Heckler & Koch, was used in the murder of Mahamoud Nur in Edmonton, Alta.
“Attempts had been made to deface the serial number on the handgun, but police were able to determine the serial number was the serial number of the Heckler & Koch handgun that Wangler had purchased and trafficked to the ‘guy he barely knew,’” said Justice Scherman.
Court heard that a pre-sentence report on Wangler was done for the sentencing hearing.
“Brett felt the justice system was flawed by having mandatory minimum sentences for specific charges,” read the pre-sentence report. “He identified himself as a victim and felt a minimum sentence of three years jail was unfair for ‘people like him.’ He does not believe he should be treated the same as ‘actual criminals’ and felt there should be a loophole when someone makes a mistake.”
Justice Scherman said this belief by Wangler demonstrates that he views what he did as just a mistake and not the serious crime that it is.
“He is not fully accepting his responsibility. He committed an actual crime, a crime that facilitated the murder of one other individual and the possibility that it has facilitated the additional instances of criminal violence on others. The full scope of the downstream impact of his crime remains unknown. It appears that Mr. Wangler has not yet come to a full acceptance of the seriousness of his offence.”
On June 12, 2019, a Lloydminster RCMP officer got information that a firearm registered to a Lloydminster, Sask., resident had been seized by Calgary Police at a crime scene in Calgary. It was a SFP9 handgun. The serial number had been defaced, but was restored and found to belong to Brett Wangler.
Court heard that Wangler’s Heckler & Koch handgun was found in a Calgary drug trafficker’s backpack on March 12, 2019.
Wangler’s handgun was also matched to a bullet that killed Mahamoud Nur in July 2017.
RCMP conducted surveillance on Wangler’s house in Lloydminster, Sask. They then searched his home on Aug. 29, 2019 and arrested him.
Wangler admitted to police, “I just bought those and sold them to this guy that I barely knew. (Expletive) stupidest thing I ever did.”
