Members of the Bear Clan confiscated a makeshift weapon during a response to a community call yesterday morning.

James Favel, executive director of Bear Clan Patrol Inc. says that the weapon was a zip gun, which is an improvised firearm.

The Bear Clan seized the makeshift gun from a youth who was chasing another youth yesterday morning. It has since been turned over to the Winnipeg Police to be destroyed.

"This improvised weapon was very poorly crafted," Favel explained. "If it worked at all, it likely would have harmed the user more than anyone else."

The scary part of the encounter for Favel is the knowledge that there are people taking the time to craft such weapons with little or no knowledge of how to do it.

"They had copper pipes for the barrel, and copper is so malleable it's just not a good combination for a high-powered, high-velocity bullet."

Favel predicts that the weapon would have shot bullets with a calibre of .303, .3030, or .308.

The executive director says a huge thank you for the confiscation of the weapon goes to alert and active community members.

"It's about the people we have with us that are community members; that are in the community, that are active in the community, that are paying attention in the community, and when they see something like this, they act and they very well stop it from becoming something worse.

"It's about being in the right place at the right time," said Favel.