Michigan reservist largest solo gun smuggler in Ontario history
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A former Michigan National Guard member admitted Monday he was the largest single firearm smuggler in Ontario history.
Randy Jackson, facing an eight-year prison term when he’ll be sentenced on Friday, acknowledged he brought 67 firearms into the black market in 2017. He pleaded guilty Monday to seven firearms offences.
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Jackson expressed sincere remorse but conceded he “never thought too seriously about the consequences of his actions” as he watched Toronto set records for homicides and shootings last year.
Police sources in both Toronto and Michigan said Jackson’s firearm haul was the high-water mark for a solo smuggler.
“This is the largest individual importer of firearms, a guy who bought these weapons within a 100-mile radius of Metro Detroit area,” said an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent.
“These guns cost US$400 to $600 here and the profit margin in Canada is enormous.”
Jackson was nabbed Thanksgiving weekend on Oct. 12, 2017 with three firearms stashed in his compression-style underwear while he tried to cross the Sarnia-Michigan border.
Mayor John Tory took sharp aim at the smuggler’s last-minute remorse after Jackson’s guilty plea.
“I saw this man … was in a great state of remorse about all this and I resisted the temptation to get a second box of Kleenex,” Tory told reporters Tuesday.
“This man never thought obviously about the mayhem that his criminal activities could cause in Toronto. He now acknowledges that 67 guns later, and heaven knows how many deaths and injuries … I hope the judge throws the book at him.”
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Twelve of Jackson’s weapons turned up at Toronto crime scenes, mostly carried by drug dealers, but one was discovered behind a Scarborough sports bar by a Good Samaritan collecting recyclables to raise cash for feral cats.
Jackson was pinpointed as a pipeline for handguns after a pair of drunken, sleeping gang members were caught in a car in the Isabella and Huntley St. area at 10 a.m. on July 7, 2017. Police found a Glock-19 9mm handgun in the door pocket and traced the sale to Jackson in Michigan.
Sgt. Rob DiDanieli of the TPS firearms enforcement unit said investigators concluded Jackson purchased many of the guns but weren’t sure if he personally transported the weapons or employed a mule.
The courts have already sent stiff messages to merchants of death, said DiDanieli.
“Gun traffickers have been receiving significant prison sentences as judges deter and denounce these despicable crimes,” said DiDanieli.
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