BC man sentenced to more than three years in prison for 'ghost-gun' manufacturing

A British Columbia man has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for manufacturing firearms.

The RCMP's Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says in a news release that Adrian Picketts-Yoxall has been sentenced after pleading guilty in March to making the weapons and possession of firearm contrary to order.

Picketts-Yoxall was charged in 2023 after an investigation a year earlier, when police pursued information about privately made firearms in the Thompson Okanagan region.

He was arrested in January 2022 after a warrant was used to search a house in Heffley Creek, B.C., where police say they seized a tactical-style shotgun, ammunition and a 3D printer used for making the weapons, among other items.

Police say the manufacturing of such firearms poses a serious public-safety risk, and the sentence "sends a clear message" that it will not be tolerated.

Privately made firearms, also known as ghost guns, are homemade weapons produced by 3D printers that can be untraceable.