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Canadian Gun Laws: A Primer for People Who Don’t Know Much About Gun Laws

Published May 19, 2020 by Christopher di Armani Filed Under: Canada's Firearms Act, Gun Control, Gun Politics, Guns


This primer on Canadian firearm law is intended for anyone who

  1. Doesn’t know much about guns;
  2. Doesn’t know much about Canada’s firearm owner licensing system;
  3. Doesn’t know much about Canada’s legislative framework for controlling access to firearms;
  4. Wants to learn a little bit about how Canada deals with firearms and access to them.

If any of the above applies to you …

 

Welcome!

If you’re still reading, then welcome. If, when you’re finished reading this column, please contact me directly. I will do my best to answer your question(s) or send you to someone who can.

Full Disclosure: I’m biased.

  • I like guns.
  • I like hunting.
  • I like plinking on the shooting range.
  • I like occasionally winning shooting competitions.
  • I used to teach the Canadian Firearms Safety Course as well as the Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course.
  • When I worked in the movie industry, part of my duties included training actors to handle guns appropriately for their character while maintaining a safe environment on set at all times.

In other words, I know a little bit about guns, how to use them safely, and how to pass that knowledge on to others.

My goal here is to pass a little of that knowledge on to you, the person reading this article right now.

What You Will Learn

First, I will provide a brief and general overview of Canada’s firearm classification system for those unfamiliar with Canada’s firearms control legislation.

Second, I’ll walk through the process of obtaining your Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) and your Restricted Possession and Acquisition Licence (RPAL).

Third, I will explain why the shooting sports are one of the safest activities in Canada – not according to me, but according to the insurance companies who sell liability insurance (and profit handsomely from it).

Fourth, I’ll discuss why guns in the hands of bad people are always a problem – and why firearms in the hands of federally-licensed, RCMP-vetted individuals seldom are.

Fifth, I will encourage you to attend a sport shooting facility near you.  I will encourage you to ask them for a tour of their facility and have them explain how the range operates to ensure everyone’s safety.

 

Part 1: Canada’s Firearm Classification System

  1. Non-Restricted Firearm – these shotguns and rifles can be used for hunting, target shooting and shooting sports competition. They may be taken out into the bush and used for hunting and/or target shooting, or taken to a government-approved shooting range for target shooting.
  1. Restricted Firearm – these firearms, most handguns and some rifles and shotguns, can only be used for target shooting and shooting sports competition. They must be taken to and from a government-approved shooting range and may only be used for those purposes.
  2. Prohibited Firearm – all automatic firearms (like the military AK-47 or M-16), some semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, and illegally-modified guns like sawed-off shotguns and any handgun with a four-inch or shorter barrel and handguns designed to discharge a 25 or 32 calibre cartridge.
    NOTE: International and Olympic shooting competitions primarily use .22 calibre firearms.

For more information, please visit the RCMP’s Classes of Firearms page.

 

Part 2: Canada’s Firearm Owner Licencing System

The process to legally possess firearms in Canada is costly, both in time and money. Anyone wishing to legally own guns must pay for firearm safety training courses and license application fees, typically between $400 and $500.

From the time you begin the process until you receive your Possession and Acquisition Licence card in the mail can be three or four months, and sometimes longer.

It is not a quick process.

 

Safety Courses

Both firearm safety courses may typically be completed in a weekend – two full days of learning basic firearm safety concepts like ACTS and PROVE, as well as how to safely handle a variety of firearms using hinge, bolt, pump, lever and semi-automatic actions.

The Four Vital ACTS of Firearm Safety

  • Assume every firearm is loaded.
  • Control the muzzle direction at all times.
  • Trigger finger must be kept off the trigger and out of the trigger guard.
  • See that the firearm is unloaded – PROVE it safe.

How to PROVE a Firearm is Safe

  • Point the firearm in the safest available direction.
  • Remove all cartridges.
  • Observe the chamber.
  • Verify the feeding path.
  • Examine the bore.

 

License Application Fees

If you want to own Non-Restricted firearms (PAL), the licence application fee is $61.32.

If you want to own Restricted firearms (RPAL), the licence application fee is $81.76.

For more information, please see the RCMP’s Service Fees page.

 

The Licensing Process

The RCMP’s Firearm Owner Licensing page says:

  • A firearms licence shows that the licence holder can possess and use firearms.

This statement from the RCMP means a firearms licence holder has successfully:

  • Completed the Canadian Firearms Safety Course;
  • Passed both the written and practical tests for the Canadian Firearms Safety Course;
  • If they want to own handguns or other Restricted class firearms, they completed the Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course and passed its written and practical exams;
  • Submitted an Application for a Possession and Acquisition Licence Under the Firearms Act, along with proof they’ve passed the CFSC (copies of course exams);
  • Passed an RCMP background check where your references are called, your current and former conjugal partners are contacted, and the RCMP found no reason why you should not be permitted to possess firearms. (Typically, this means you have no criminal record or history of violence.)

If you pass all these requirements, the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program will issue your Possession and Acquisition Licence and, once the licence is in your possession, you may legally acquire a firearm.

You will still be subjected to a CPIC background check every 24 hours (Continuous Eligibility Screening) for as long as you are a licensed firearm owner.

 

Part 3: The Shooting Sports are Among the Safest Activities in Canada

The primary reason to visit a shooting range is to see for yourself how ordinary Canadians legally use firearms.

Statistically, shooting ranges are one of the safest places on earth. While this sounds completely illogical, insurance companies do not make moral decisions about firearms. They care about one thing and one thing only – making money.

Insurance companies make money by charging more in insurance premiums than they pay out in claims. The more dangerous an activity, the higher the insurance premiums are to cover that activity because there are more claims.

For just $45 per year, you can obtain $5,000,000 of primary liability insurance for all your shooting activities in Canada.

Compare this to your vehicle’s liability insurance. From the statistical perspective of the insurance companies, driving a vehicle is dangerous and sport shooting is not.

For just $95 per year, you can also purchase legal defence insurance should you ever be charged with a firearms offence.  This insurance covers up to $250,000 per claim and $1,000,000 per year.

One of the downsides of Canada’s stringent firearm control system is the law is extremely complex and confusing – even for judges and Crown prosecutors. The average police officer doesn’t stand a chance, not when the Canadian Criminal Code is over 1,000 pages long.

As a result, police will generally seize the firearm, arrest and charge the person with it, and let the judge sort it out. This is not a statement against police. They simply don’t have the time or the resources to do so themselves.

If you choose to own firearms, $95 per year is awfully cheap peace of mind.  It’s also more proof this insurance company doesn’t pay out much in legal fees each year. If they did, they could never offer to cover $250,000 of legal fees and expenses per claim.

 

Part 4: Guns in the Hands of Bad People are Always a Problem

When people with bad intentions pick up a gun, nothing good comes from it. We see the proof of this – week in and week out – in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. It’s not confined to big cities. Smaller cities like Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg also have far more violence than anyone wants to see.

I can’t recall the last time I made it through an entire week without hearing about a shooting somewhere in our country.

Almost without exception, the source is the same – bad people with illegal guns, shooting at other bad people in an attempt to violently impose their will on others.

These shootings are fueled by drug dealers and gangs doing what drug dealers and gangs always do – enforce their rules by violence.

These are not the licensed gun owners I discussed at the top of this article. These are violent criminals, often with long criminal records already, and they don’t care about ordinary people like you and me.

The awful tragedy we just witnessed in Nova Scotia was no different. This was a violent man with a long history of violence who, one terrible day, took his illegal guns and went on a murderous rampage and killed everyone he came in contact with.

The uncomfortable reality of Canada’s firearm laws is they focus on the law-abiding – on the people willing to take the safety course, on the people who can pass an RCMP background check – not on the violent criminals responsible for 99.9% of all the shootings.

A Firearm Prohibition Order is a restriction placed on criminals convicted of violent offences.  This restriction can last for 5 years, ten years or for the rest of the person’s life.

In 2018, the last year the RCMP published these numbers, Canada had 459,538 individuals prohibited from possessing firearms.

On average, 40 people are arrested every month who are in illegal possession of firearms in violation of their pre-existing Firearm Prohibtion Orders.  These are just the ones I can find easily using a Google keyword search. The true number is probably much higher.

These are the people who our system should be addressing but does not, an issue the Canadian Shooting Sports Association addressed in their commentary “Court Orders Can’t Stop Criminals From Getting Illegal Guns.”

We need to focus our precious police and court resources on the people responsible for the carnage, not on those who aren’t.

 

Part 5: Visit a Sport Shooting Facility Near You

The primary reason to visit a shooting range is to see for yourself how ordinary Canadians use firearms legally and safely.

Most shooting ranges are happy to show you around and walk you through their safety procedures. Just give them a call, make an appointment, and then see what legal gun ownership and shooting ranges are all about.

It’s a world vastly different from what you see portrayed in the newspapers or the evening news, but I don’t want you to take my word for it – I want you to experience this for yourself.

If you need assistance locating a sport shooting facility near you, please contact me and I’ll do my best to point you to a facility near you.

 


Errors and/or Omissions

Please contact me directly about any errors you see in this article, or about any omissions you believe I made. I will address your concerns asap.

Author

  • Christopher di Armani
    Christopher di Armani

    Christopher di Armani is a freedom-loving Amazon bestselling author and current events commentator from Lytton, BC, Canada, who strives to awaken the passion for liberty inside every human being.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: ACTS, basic firearm safety, Canada’s stringent firearm control system, Canadian firearm law, Canadian Firearms Safety Course, Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course, Classes of firearms, firearm classification system, firearm liability insurance, firearm prohibition orders, Firearms Legal Defence, firearms legislation, non-restricted firearm, Possession and Acquisition Licence, primary liability insurance, prohibited firearm, PROVE, RCMP-vetted individuals, restricted firearm, training actors

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Comments

  1. Dave Brown says

    May 20, 2020 at 11:16 am

    Excellent summary but where you mention background and reference checks, it might make a stronger point to mention that background checks also include contacting current and former conjugal partners. Many people have the view, probably rightly so and shared by the RCMP apparently, that some people may want to acquire a firearm to threaten or harm a conjugal partner, especially if there a history of domestic violence.

    Reply
  2. Steve says

    May 20, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Nice article.
    I’ve been a gun owner since 1968 .
    Appreciate what you’re doing.
    However, a slight typo. Olympic shooters use a 22 not a 32.
    32 caliber is prohibited in Canada.

    Thanks for your time
    Steve

    Reply
    • Christopher di Armani says

      May 25, 2020 at 11:22 pm

      Thanks Steve. Typo fixed.

      Reply
    • Andre Benoit says

      December 4, 2022 at 10:28 am

      Please get your reading glasses, he did say 22 and not 32. I own 25s and 32s because I had some when the law came into effect which gave me the 12.6 clause which grandfathers me, meaning that before the handgun “freeze” I could buy or acquire more prohibited handguns.

      Reply
  3. RCEME says

    May 21, 2020 at 11:09 am

    Unfortunately the intelligent comments and views expressed on this web sight will never see the light of day on a government sponsored broadcaster such as something like, ohhhh the Communist Broadcasting Cartel.

    Reply
  4. Dave says

    May 25, 2020 at 6:23 am

    Can we organize a way to send this to every propaganda oh I meant news room in the country?

    Reply
  5. Gerry Hildebrandt says

    May 25, 2020 at 8:39 am

    Great article, and valued information, I will be forwarding this to as many MP’s as I can find along with friends and family.
    Love the format and the hard work that goes into writing and informing us all.
    Keep fighting the good fight
    Gerry Hildebrandt

    Reply
  6. Drew Millard says

    April 23, 2021 at 5:52 am

    As someone said above you may want to mention background checks and also that once you have a firearm license you get a criminal record check every day for the rest of your life.

    Reply
    • Christopher di Armani says

      April 23, 2021 at 3:17 pm

      I do mention background checks, Drew, in the section titled ‘The Licensing Process’. I also added a line about the Continuous Eligibility Screening to that section, so thank you for that suggestion.

      Reply
  7. P Clark says

    April 24, 2021 at 8:00 am

    Good job???????
    This should be reposted every month.

    Reply
  8. Paul says

    August 5, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    While i have not been acquainted with your website for long, your email updates appear to constantly support police officers doing their duty, while they also continually highlight the dangers of firearms. I assume what you are advocating is responsible ownership of weapons? Unfortunately, based on actual history, all governments appear to be despotic and, for that reason i disagree with your advice that “responsible” gun ownership must include a) getting a government-approved license b) being recorded in a permanent government registry each day of your life that you own that government-approved license; c) being always open and transparent about ownership of any and all weapons. As our “dear leaders” (and those of most if not all countries) have recently shown with the Covidian cult fraud, they are not to be trusted with any responsibility; much less, with the “right” to police and control human beings to the extent that, they can no longer defend themselves against tyranny. As far as I am concerned, people ought to be able to obtain weapons when they feel like it. However, if they commit crimes using such weapons (and i mean CRIMES not defending themselves) then, and only then, they should lose those weapons; not the RIGHT to have a weapon. The actual definition of “government” is “mind control.” I’m not really sure what the purpose of your website is; but from the looks of it, you support government tyranny and police brutality.

    Reply
    • Christopher di Armani says

      August 5, 2021 at 2:47 pm

      Hi Paul, I’ll do my best to address your many points below.

      Yes, I advocate the responsible use of firearms, but please do not conflate that with support of Canada’s firearm licencing scheme.

      Individuals do not require a government permission slip to behave responsibly, nor does said permission slip ensure individuals will behave responsibly.

      This article was written to explain Canada’s current firearms laws to those who know nothing about them. That’s all. I believe you’re conflating my explanation of the legal requirements to own firearms in Canada as my support of them.

      My explaining these legal requirements should never be viewed as ‘support’ for these legal requirements, nor should it be seen as ‘advice’ that one must follow them. That choice is always the responsibility of the individual.

      Should you choose to dive deeper into the content I write here, you’ll see I do not support government databases of law-abiding citizens and the property they own. I’ve fought against them and fundraised for many legal challenges to Canada’s firearms laws – Bruce Montague’s constitutional challenge being the highest profile case on that front.

      Yes, I support law enforcement – in general – but as you dive deeper into this site, you’ll see I am extremely critical of police officers who break the law and/or violate the rights and freedoms of ‘mere citizens’ – all of which happens far more regularly than I like. Read anything in the RMCP Hall of Shame category and that should cure any doubt you have on that front.

      If you read my thoughts on the COVIDiocy (search “Bonnie Henry” and you’ll find most of those commentaries) you’ll see you and I are in agreement there too.

      So… if you’re reading this website and coming away with the belief that “you support government tyranny and police brutality” then I honestly don’t know what to say.

      That statement simply could not be farther from the truth.

      I’m happy to discuss these or any other issues with you (or anyone else) in person. Use the link below to schedule a time that works for us both.

      https://ChristopherDiArmani.com/BookACall

      Reply
  9. Charles Joseph Zach says

    January 4, 2022 at 7:55 am

    Great information for the general public who know little about firearms and gun control. Unfortunately our self serving government has recognized that the general ignorance of the masses can be politically exploited to garner votes and hold onto power. When the public finally realizes they are being systematically lied to by their state representatives there will be a reckoning and justice will be swift.

    Reply
  10. Stephen F Walsh says

    December 25, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    Holy crap! I am in the US and this we consider tyranny. Do I understand correctly you are subjected to a DAILY background check as long as you hold the license? That is unbelievable. And what the hell is dangerous about 4 in barrels?

    Reply
    • Christopher di Armani says

      January 16, 2023 at 8:47 pm

      Yes, Stephen, you read that right.

      All Possession and Acquisition License holders are subjected to an automated background check daily.

      This does not, of course, apply to criminals or anyone with a court-ordered Firearms Prohibition Order. Police and government agencies continue to ignore them unless they are caught committing further crimes. Then they’ll also lay charges for violating the FPO.

      It’s sad and pathetic and it doesn’t need to make sense. It’s government policy. 🙁

      Christopher

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Liberal Gun Bans, Opinion Polls and The Truth | Christopher di Armani.com says:
    May 21, 2020 at 1:12 am

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