Misdialed 911 call leads RCMP to home with 100 unsecured guns

RCMP stumbled upon 100 unsecured guns earlier this week while checking on a home in Nova Scotia's Yarmouth County after the resident misdialed 911, police say.

A 73-year-old man was arrested and faces charges of unsafe storage of a firearm, and police seized all 100 guns, RCMP said in a news release on Wednesday.

The "unusual discovery" was made Monday around 11 a.m. AT while police were checking to ensure there was no emergency at his Chebogue home.

Ninety-four long guns and six handguns were taken. 

The man legally had possession of the guns, said Cpl. Jennifer Clarke. 

"They did actually speak to the person on the phone at the time of the call and he said there was no emergency and that he was trying to dial 411," said Clarke. 

Clarke said RCMP have to respond to all 911 calls, even hangups or misdials. 

"When the police officers went to the individual's home, they felt that they needed to get inside the home to make sure there was no emergency," said Clarke. "With permission from the homeowner, they did enter the home."

Guns were found throughout the house, none of them secured, she said.

"What we should be seeing with something like a rifle is that it was disabled or locked in one way."

The man was later released and is scheduled to appear in Yarmouth provincial court in October.