The federal government announced new gun control measures Thursday, adding several hundred models and variants to its list of banned weapons.
“These firearms can no longer be legally used, sold or imported in Canada,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters.
The announcement comes one day before the 35th anniversary of the massacre at École Polytechnique de Montréal. Radio-Canada first reported the news earlier Thursday.
The new measures, which are effective immediately, list more than 300 makes and models of assault-style firearms as prohibited weapons.
There will be an amnesty period until Oct. 30 of next year for current owners to comply with the ban. The new models will be part of the government’s planned buy-back program — the program still has not collected a single gun.
Edit: According to Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc, the list of newly banned guns is currently unavailable and its exact date of release is undefined.
The RCMP stated that the list of banned guns would be available “very shortly”. Exactly where the list of banned guns would be available to read was not disclosed.
Edit 2: List of banned guns is at this link
If they banned guns based on specific well-defined criteria, presumably nobody would need to wait for a list to know which ones were affected? It’s sort of amazing to think that this government could fail to do so for a second time after the way it went down last time.
It’s sort of amazing to think that this government could fail to do so for a second time after the way it went down last time.
I don’t believe the Liberal government truly wants to make transformative change on this file, they’re simply acting to balance optics and pressure from interest groups. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that this current effort seems disorganized and destined to fail.
As someone who supports strong gun controls but also has an RPAL license, I shake my head at this.
They’re mostly banning guns based on looks, not on actual functionality or ease of modification. Worse, they’re banning specific make and model, meaning that someone else can make an identical gun and legally sell it, until the next list comes out.
It’s showmanship, and it’s preventing meaningful improvements.
Reading the list it looks like they just looked up Call of Duty and Battlefield and copied everything into alphabetical order. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next round includes some fictional guns.
Fun fact, the H&K G11 is prohibited by name in Canada. Only 1000 prototypes were ever produced, exclusively for military trials in Germany, and the project was mothballed in the early 90s after the Warsaw Pact dissolved.
I think I see your point, but, as a person with an RPAL, what does ‘meaningful improvement’ look like to you?
(FYI - I don’t actually own guns. I got my license because I thought I was going to inherit my dad’s guns when he died, and then…well, there’s a whole story)
Here’s the first thing: Education. Education on how hard it is to actually get a gun in this country. I was genuinely shocked (in a good way!) when I went through the requirements. It’s not ‘slightly harder than the USA’ which is what I think most Canadians expect, it’s a completely different process.
I think that if more Canadians understood what they need to go through to get a gun (the course, the licensing, the waiting periods, the background tracking, the storage and transportation requirements, etc.), there would be less demand for “STRONGER GUN LAWS” that aren’t meaningful.
Second thing: Better border controls. Because let’s be clear - nearly all gun crime in Canada is carried out with unregistered illegally imported guns, mostly by people who don’t have licenses to start with.
Third. Actually, this is something Bill 21 got right. Make it easier to block or strip licenses from people who have any history of violence. We could do better here. If a domestic partner files battery charges but then drops them, that should be a HUGE HUGE RED FLAG!
I was very pleased to discover that I couldn’t get my license without approval of my wife (or hypothetical ex-partners), but we could do better.
As for banning guns and accessories, make the bans functional rather than aesthetic. Ban guns that can be converted to auto-fire with a 3D-printed cap. Ban long guns that share a magazine with a pistol (which can have a larger magazine). Ban guns that are designed for concealed carry. (I guess they did this by banning all handguns, but it was inadvertent).
I’m sure others could add more refinements, but it comes down to this: The more I learned about gun laws in Canada, the more I realized that the restrictions brought in by the Liberals have been legal theatre, rather than safety-driven legislation.
The more I learned about gun laws in Canada, the more I realized that the restrictions brought in by the Liberals have been legal theatre, rather than safety-driven legislation.
I agree with you fully on that point.
In my mind, the penalties for being caught with an illegal firearm should be far more severe. It should be a long, mandatory prison sentence. This seems like an obvious first step. I don’t see how further restricting legal owners will solve the sorts of problems that we want solved when we think about gun crime.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.
If you own a firearm because of how cool it looks and not strictly for it’s functionality, I do not want you to own a gun. You need a gun for pest control on the farm, go right ahead. You hunt to put food on your family’s table, be my guest. You want a pew pew toy to feel powerful? Fuck off.
They should require every single gun be neon pink, and then people who actually need a gun for a legitimate purpose will still be able to get them, and everyone else can pick a new hobby that doesn’t involve a tool who’s entire purpose is to kill things as efficiently as possible.
Even prior to the May 2020 OIC that reclassified AR pattern & other firearms to prohibited status, Canada had a pre-existing, highly restrictive system of firearm regulation. This system remains in force.
Citizens who want to purchase a firearm need to undergo mandatory education, and a rigorous, lengthy, and costly application process that obligates the applicant to list comprehensive personal details, including previous romantic partners, and multiple character references. Every applicant undergoes an RCMP background check, and restricted firearm licensees undergo daily checks. No license for firearm ownership is given in Canada without direct RCMP oversight. The RCMP can deny a license to anyone they see fit. Citizens can report problem firearm owners, and those owners can expect a rapid visit from the RCMP.
Restricted firearms are only allowed at an approved range, or trigger locked, in a locked case, and away from ammunition. Any other condition of storage and use is a crime.
You should know that, in Canada, it is absolutely impossible to buy or own a firearm on a whim.
For the record, I think this is overall a good thing, and was a system brought about as a result of Polytechnique in 1989.
None of that is relevant to what I said.
The notion that there are Canadians who own a gun simply because they think it’s cool, is ignorant to the facts of what it takes to actually get a license to acquire and possess a firearm in this country.
Um, not at all. Plenty of people can fill out a form and wait 2 weeks to get a gun because they think it’s cool. You don’t have to prove what you’re going to do with it at all, you could have just seen a cool youtube video and signed up for the PAL course.
I know some of these people, they live in my neighborhood, they own multiple attachments, scopes, night vision, etc. and have never taken the damn things anywhere but the range to show off to their buddies.
I take it they haven’t harmed anyone? Are you concerned that they will?
Yes, I am. Gun violence exists in Canada, even outside the gang situation, and there’s zero good reason for these people to own a gun.
If you have good reason to believe these people will harm someone with their guns, please report it to the RCMP, instead of wishing that their guns were a different colour.
Follow this link and use the contact information to file a report. Please do this immediately if you think someone is in danger of being harmed. https://rcmp.ca/en/firearms/contact-canadian-firearms-program
Good! Keep that nonsense out of our country.
Out of curiosity, what do you think the firearm regulations should look like in Canada?
Only the army and special forces should be allowed to have guns.
Outside of a perfect world scenario, on a practical level, there is an argument that the issue of gun violence in Canada is best addressed by tackling illegal firearm smuggling, and making penalties for violent offenders more effective. Any sympathy to that angle?
Ah. They banned the M2 Browning. I’m glad to see them finally taking heavy machine guns off our streets. They’ve been legal for far too long. /s
