Cache of guns nets house arrest

Update, March 24, 2025: On Oct. 12, 2024, Lindsay was granted a pardon or record suspension from the Parole Board of Canada.

A Halifax man has been sentenced to 18 months of house arrest for stockpiling submachine guns and other illegal firearms in his apartment.

Alexander Stuart Lindsay, 22, was sentenced Tuesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court after pleading guilty to a series of weapons charges.

The investigation started when the Canada Border Services Agency began tracking suspicious packages entering the country.

In May 2008, police and customs agents searched Lindsay's apartment and seized dozens of submachine guns, handguns, assault rifles and various gun parts. There was no furniture in the place — only firearms from wall to wall.

Investigators also discovered guns in Lindsay's car and in a storage unit.

But there was no ammunition, nor was there any evidence that Lindsay tried to sell the guns, Justice Kevin Coady noted in handing down the sentence.

Defence lawyer Joel Pink said that made all the difference for his client.

"He was obsessive compulsive with the issue of guns. He found it challenging to put guns together," Pink said outside the courtroom. "But as the judge said this morning, there was no indication of any ammunition and there was no evidence that he had sold any guns to any criminal organization. If that had happened, this sentence wouldn't be what it is today."

Lindsay is required to continue to live with his father, a prominent Halifax developer, for the duration of his sentence. He also faces two years of probation and is banned from owning firearms for the rest of his life.

The young man has turned his life around since moving in with his father and joining Alcoholics Anonymous, according to a pre-sentence report.