Canadian Firearms Registry
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1993 |
| Jurisdiction | Registration of prohibited and restricted firearms |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive | |
| Parent agency | Canadian Firearms Program |
The Canadian Firearms Registry is the gun registry managed by the Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as part of the RCMP's responsibilities under the Firearms Act, 1995. It requires the registration of all restricted and prohibited firearms in Canada. The registry was introduced by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 1993 and implemented by successive Justice Ministers Allan Rock and Anne McLellan. The net annual operating cost of the program was originally estimated to be $2 million.
Originally the program required the registration of all non-restricted firearms but this requirement was dropped on April 6, 2012 by the coming into force of Bill C-19. Bill C-19 also mandated the destruction of the non-restricted records of the registry as soon as feasible. The Province of Quebec immediately filed a request for an injunction to prevent the destruction of the data. A temporary injunction was granted by the Superior Court of Quebec on April 5, 2012 to prevent the data for Quebec residents from being destroyed until legal arguments could be heard. On March 27, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Quebec (AG) v Canada (AG) that the destruction of long-gun registry records was within the constitutional power of Parliament to make criminal law, denying the Quebec government's legal challenge and allowing for those records to be destroyed.
Canada had a gun registry during the Second World War, when all people were compelled to register their firearms out of fear of enemy subversion. This registry in Canada was discontinued after the war; however, all handguns (restricted) have been subject to registration since 1934. In addition, fully automatic firearms have been prohibited (with grandfathering exemptions to existing, licensed collectors of full-automatic weapons and theatrical users) since 1977. A Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC) was required to purchase any firearm since its implementation in 1977, although additional restrictions applied for handguns (restricted - 1934) and fully automatic firearms (prohibited −1977). To obtain an FAC, no training was required until the Canadian Firearms Safety Course and Test program (non-restricted, restricted, or combined courses/tests) was created as a prerequisite in Bill C-17 in 1991. This formal training, once common in families and even schools, has been credited with the marked reduction of accidents involving the improper handling of firearms. Under bill C-17 (1991), and subsequent legislation and/or orders in council, short-barreled handguns and those firing .25 ACP and .32 ACP ammunition, and all handguns with a barrel length under 105mm (~4.1"), with the exception of certain guns typically used in shooting competitions, were added to the list of prohibited firearms. In addition, a large reclassification of firearms was made to place many firearms with certain cosmetic and functional characteristics into the category and registration of 'restricted' or 'prohibited' firearms. Some classes of these firearms have also been subject to grandfathering provisions of the law to owners and collectors, including some limited allowances of willing/gifting certain prohibited firearms to a family member to preserve them for historic value as pre-1945 collectors pieces.
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