B.C. man sentenced to more than three years in prison for ‘ghost-gun’ manufacturing

KAMLOOPS — 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2025.