Firearms Reference Table

Date: June 3, 2020

Classification: Unclassfied

Branch/Agency: Organization name

Issue:

The Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) – Article from National Post

Proposed Response:

Background: 

A National Post article entitled “Liberal gun ban quietly expanded, potentially putting owners unknowingly on wrong side of the law” was published on June 3, 2020. It stated that: “The RCMP has quietly outlawed hundreds of rifles and shotguns over the past month, adding to the list of 1,500 firearms already banned by the Liberal government on May 1.”

The article further states that: “The list has been expanded without public notifications from either the RCMP or the federal government, raising concerns among gun sellers and owners that they could have unknowingly bought, sold or transported illegal firearms in recent weeks. The recently banned firearms have all been deemed illegal retroactively, as of May 1.”

On May 1, 2020, the Government of Canada amended the Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited or Restricted (commonly referred to as the Classification Regulations). These amendments have the effect of reclassifying nine (9) types of firearms, by make and model, and their variants; as well as firearms with a bore of 20 mm or greater and those firearms capable of discharging a projectile with a muzzle energy greater than 10,000 Joules; and   the upper receivers of M16, AR-10, AR-15 and M4 pattern as prohibited firearms and devices.

Based on the amendments introduced by the Governor-in-Council, the Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) has been working diligently to ensure that the Firearms Reference Table (FRT), an administrative document, is updated to reflect all of the classification changes resulting from the Order in Council issued May 1, 2020.  This includes assessing variants and modified versions of the newly prohibited principal models which, based on the CFP’s technical experts’ assessments, meet the new legal classifications created by the Order in Council.  On May 28, 2020, the Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) posted an updated FRT public version, in PDF format, to the CFP website.

The FRT public version contains a link to a supplementary list of FRT records, affected by the May 1, 2020 Order in Council making the Regulations Amending the Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited, Restricted or Non-Restricted SOR/2020-96. 

Contacts:

Prepared by: Rob Mackinnon, Director, Firearms Business Improvement, 613-843-5444

Approved by: Stephen White, Deputy Commissioner, Specialized Policing Services, 613-843-4631

Date modified: