Regina Police Chief Lorilee Davies says her force is not "sweeping anything under the rug" after charging one of its own officers over a banned rifle.

Const. Sheldon Kowalchuk, a seven-year member of the Regina Police Service, is charged with breach of trust and unauthorized possession of a firearm. He allegedly kept a Bushmaster XM15-E2S, an AR-15-style rifle, that a member of the public surrendered during a 2022 provincial amnesty.

None of it has been proven in court. He is suspended with pay and due in Regina Provincial Court on December 15.

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Justin Trudeau's Liberal government made that rifle prohibited in May 2020. Owners have since been told to dispose of or deactivate guns like it, and the amnesty deadline for them was extended to 90 days after the Supreme Court rules on the ban.

During the 2022 amnesty, officers collected surrendered guns from homes. Police no longer do that job. Davies says that amnesty might have been one of the last.

She has declined to say how the rifle ended up with him.

Davies says the Saskatchewan Firearms Office, the province's own body, brought the rifle to police attention in the spring of 2026. How the office learned of it has not been reported.

Regina police say the charges followed an investigation by their Professional Standards Unit and consultation with Crown prosecutors.

The surrender was in 2022 and the flag came in 2026, four years on.