Courts should be slow to order any degree of concurrency between sentences for drug offences and firearms offences, as the choice to engage in the drug trade and to do so with firearms is a deliberate one. Possession of both commercial quantities of drugs and firearms is an aggravating factor in sentencing for both types of offences, whether or not the precise connection can be shown. An acquittal on one count in a multi-count drug prosecution does not preclude sentencing on the remaining counts on the basis that the offender was a principal.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 8 later cases that cite this judgment.
7 of the 8 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.