Alberta announces gun amnesty during October

The provincehas declared a gun amnesty during October, allowing residents to give police illegal and unwanted firearms without facing charges.

Calgary's chief of police, Jack Beaton, said Monday that guns gathering dust in people's basements can end up being used in a crime.

"Homes are broken into on a regular basis and if a criminal goes into your home and sees that firearm in the basement they will take that firearm and use it in other criminal offences."

Beaton is hoping people who have weapons they don't want will take advantage of the amnesty.

"We think there's people in our community that have unwanted firearms and ammunition in their homes and they really don't know what to do with it."

Not anti-gun: minister

Alberta's Minister of Justice Ron Stevens said this is the first gun amnesty in the province inrecent memory.

Stevens said all the weapons turned in will be tested to see if they've been stolen or used in a crime. If any guns are found to be historically significant they may be given to museums. The rest will be destroyed.

"This is not an anti-gun campaign. We are not targeting responsible gun owners," he said.

A month-long gun amnesty in British Columbia earlier this year netted nearly 4,000 weapons, including a rocket launcher, a Sterling submachine-gun and an M16 assault rifle.