An air force officer and decorated sharpshooter has pleaded guilty to illegally importing eight firearms after gun parts — some without serial numbers — were found stashed among his clothes and shoes when he moved back to Canada.
Maj. Kendrick Barling appeared in court Wednesday, nearly two and a half years after the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) charged him with 29 firearm-related offences.
“I plead guilty,” he said after the indictment was read out.
Barling is an “avid firearm collector,” according to an agreed statement of facts read out Friday afternoon in Brockville Superior Court by assistant Crown attorney Will Webber.
It states the officer had brought his guns with him to the U.S. while working for NORAD and had purchased others while he was there.
In August 2023, when moving back to Canada for a posting at CFB Kingston, Barling drove across the border and declared nine unrestricted rifles and shotguns. He also presented the necessary permits for two Glock handguns, court heard.
Roughly a week later, while CBSA was examining a truckload of his belongings, officers repeatedly asked if he had any other firearms, but Barling told them no, according to the facts.
However, Webber told court the following firearm components were discovered:
“The firearms seized from Maj. Barling’s household goods were found in small cardboard boxes that were among clothing and shoes inside a larger wardrobe,” Webber read from the facts.
“They were only discovered with special X-ray scanning machines used by CBSA.”
The Crown added a CBSA officer was able to “easily assemble the firearm components on site into two functional and complete handguns in less than 10 minutes.”
A second officer was also able to put together a gun based on the parts, Webber said, noting none of the firearms were securely stored in a locked container or had trigger guards.
Court also heard there was no suggestion the illegally imported firearms were destined for criminals or that Barling intended to sell them.
Barling was previously recognized with multiple medals as the top rifle marksman in the Canadian Armed Forces, a fact which was also mentioned in the agreed facts.
As a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he won the Queen’s Medal for Champion Shot three years in a row from 2011 to 2013, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence previously confirmed in an email to CBC.
He took home the honour a fourth time in 2016, according to an article from the Maple Leaf, an online publication that shares stories about the Forces.
Barling’s prowess as a sharpshooter is highlighted in articles on the Department of National Defence’s website, which include photos of him sitting in a wooden chair that’s being carried on the shoulders of several others in uniform.
He’s shown smiling and holding a rifle by his side. A similar photo is included in a 2016 piece about his win that year.
A caption for the photo explains “chairing” is part of a longstanding tradition which sees the medal-winner carried from the shooting range by their competitors.
The prize is a “big deal,” according to Rory Fowler, a retired lieutenant-colonel and former military lawyer who’s now in private practice.
“It really is confounding,” Fowler said when Barling’s charges were first announced. “An individual who clearly has the experience that he has with firearms would know the risks that they’re taking.”
Barling did not respond to questions posed by CBC outside court Friday. Sentencing submissions are slated to take place June 29.
