BEARSKIN LAKE – On April 22, 2013, the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service Guns & Gangs Unit, Drug Enforcement and Canine Unit with the assistance of the O.P.P. Organized Crime Enforcement Team attended the First Nation community of Bearskin Lake to execute a search warrant as part of an investigation.
The search warrant yielded police a Prohibited Ruko AK-47 Assault Rifle and two Prohibited High Capacity Magazines.
NAPs seize ‘Assault Rifle’
The weapon and devices were seized from the residence of a 57 year old man, no charges have been laid at this time and the Guns & Gangs Unit is continuing the investigation.
Bearskin Lake First Nation is located approximately 650 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.
AK-47 Assault Rifle
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the USSR by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known asAvtomat Kalashnikova (Russian: Автомат Калашникова). It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an AK or in Russian slang, Kalash.
Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year of World War II (1945). After the war in 1946, the AK-46 was presented for official military trials. In 1948 the fixed-stock version was introduced into active service with selected units of the Soviet Army. An early development of the design was the AKS (S—Skladnoy or “folding”), which was equipped with an underfolding metal shoulder stock. In 1949, the AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces[10] and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact.
The original AK-47 was one of the first assault rifles of 2nd generation, after the German StG 44.[11] Even after six decades the model and its variants remain the most widely used and popular assault rifles in the world because of their durability, low production cost, and ease of use. It has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with armed forces as well as irregular forces worldwide. The AK-47 was the basis for developing many other types of individual and crew-served firearms. More AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined.
