Residents with guns - of the firearm variety, that is - will have an opportunity to safely dispose of any they don't want, or shouldn't have, at the end of March. 

"Because of the recent media events, and the problems they've been having in Regina and Saskatoon with firearms, the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs Of Police in conjunction with the police services are holding a firearms amnesty between the 29th of March and the 27th of April, 2018," shared Sergeant Craig Bird of the Estevan Police Service.

"Just for public safety. If people have firearms or ammunition around the house that they don't know what to do with, this is an opportunity for them to dispose of them properly so that they can't potentially fall into the wrong hands, not just criminals but kids. We just want to keep the community a little bit safer and give people an option as to what to do with these things."

"If they don't have a firearms license, for example, but have the firearms because they were in the family and what not and they don't have any interest in keeping them, they can let us know or bring them down to the police station to be disposed of. That goes for ammunition as well."

Officers can either arrive at your house to pick up the weapon, or you can bring it down to the police station yourself. However, the EPS asks the public to avoid simply walking into the station toting a firearm, for obvious reasons.

"They can just leave them in their vehicles, and come into the office. We'll get an officer to come out and pick them up," Bird said.

The word 'amnesty' means that if you possess it without the required license, you won't get charged if you bring it down in that period of time. Ditto for any weapons that are themselves outlawed.

"We'll take it off their hands so that they become legal again. We do check the firearms, just to make sure that they weren't used in crimes. But as for the individuals turning them in, they won't get into trouble if they have firearms that they're not supposed to."

This is the first time, according to Sergeant Bird, that the EPS has participated in an event such as this. All police services, including the RCMP, are involved.