The new law which received Royal Assent last June 18 amends the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act with goal of improving the safety of our communities while ensuring safe and sensible firearms policies and cutting red tape for law-abiding firearms owners.
Parliament was forced to enact the law after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) changed its rules on certain categories of firearms criminalizing thousands of gun owners who purchased non-restricted firearms who were later classified by chief firearms officers as restricted.
Effective immediately, these changes to the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code do the following:
- Make classroom participation in firearms safety courses mandatory for first-time license applicants;
- Provide for the discretionary authority of Chief Firearms Officers (CFOs) to be subject to the regulations;
- Strengthen the Criminal Code provisions relating to orders prohibiting the possession of firearms where a person is convicted of an offence involving domestic violence; and
- Provide the Governor in Council with the authority to prescribe firearms to be non-restricted or restricted (such prescribing would be informed by independent expert advice).
Within the next several months, upon a date fixed by an order in council, the following changes will come into effect:
- Creation of a six-month grace period at the end of the five-year license period to stop people from immediately becoming criminalized for paperwork delays around license renewals;
- Elimination of the Possession Only License (POL) and conversion of all existing POLs to Possession and Acquisition Licenses (PALs);
- Authorizations to Transport become a condition of a license for certain routine and lawful activities such as target shooting; taking a firearm home after a transfer; going to a gunsmith, gun show, a Canadian port of exit; or a peace officer or a Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) for verification, registration or disposal; and
- Sharing of firearms import information when restricted and prohibited firearms are imported into Canada by businesses.
