The Canadian government is expanding its list of banned firearms

The Canadian government is expanding its list of banned firearms, adding hundreds of additional makes, models and variants, effective  immediately.
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Legal owners of these newly  banned weapons will  benefit from amnesty from criminal liability, with strict conditions, while they take the  necessary steps to comply,  before disposing of their  weapons under the buyback  program that has not yet been implemented.
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Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the announcement alongside Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Defence Minister Bill  Blair in Ottawa on  Thursday.
"The best thing we can do to  honor the memories of those we  have lost  to mass  shootings is to  take action on gun control and  limit access to the weapons  that were used to commit these  horrific crimes," said LeBlanc.
"Our goal is to ensure that no community, no family, is  ever again destroyed by  a mass  shooting in  Canada."
Prohibited firearms cannot be  purchased, sold,  loaned or  imported. Today's announcement specifically revises the classification of  "104 families of  assault firearms,  including 324 unique makes and models and their  variations," according to government officials  who briefed  reporters.
The affected firearms all have  a semi-automatic  mechanism with  rapid and sustained  fire capabilities, according to the government, and  are expected to be  destroyed during the amnesty period, which  ends on October 30,  2025.
The federal Liberals also  plan to move forward with additional regulatory and legislative measures in the  coming days and  months.
That will include regulations  to be introduced on  December 13 to strengthen  Canada's firearms classification regime. And,  based on the controversial Bill C-21 passed  by Parliament in December 2023, the  government has promised to  introduce "additional measures" to address the  rate of gun violence in situations of gender-based  violence and  domestic violence, in January  2025.
"We will also introduce  additional red and yellow flag  regulations in early  spring and  high-capacity loading regulations later  in March," LeBlanc  said.
Blair also revealed that  the federal government is in  discussions with Ukrainian officials about  sending firearms  that the government  plans to eventually  collect to  help Ukraine's war  effort.
"We have been working closely with our friends in Ukraine to ensure that weapons intended  for combat use can be made available to  them," Blair  said.
"The Department of National Defence will begin working with Canadian companies that have  the required weapons  from Ukraine and are already eligible for the assault-style  firearms offset program to  remove these weapons  from Canada and  deliver them to the  Ukrainians."
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The federal  Liberals' gun control announcement comes on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the École Polytechnique  massacre (opens in a new  tab). Before the news  broke, the Canadian Coalition for  Firearms Rights  had already  criticized the  decision as  harmful to licensed gun owners,  "while doing nothing to  improve gun safety."
Wes Winkel of the Canadian Sporting  Gun and Ammunition Association said the announcement could be  "devastating for our  industry."
"Anger and disappointment would  certainly be the two most  appropriate emotions for  this announcement," he said.  "We very rarely see these types of firearms used in  crimes."
"This is trying to  reassure voters in  Canadian cities ... there is no reason  to be concerned about public safety for these  weapons to be  here," Winkel  said.
The Liberals  were under pressure to ban  the entry into the market of additional firearms after  2020 and before the Liberals passed Bill  C-21.
Gun control advocates  who attended the  announcement welcomed the news, saying  it was a "significant step  forward" that  gives hope that the government will go  further.
"I know  I'm crying, but  I'm also  smiling because  it's an important step forward and I  truly believe that what remains to be  done will be  done," said  a survivor of the École Polytechnique massacre and founder of PolySeSouvient.  This decision follows a May 2020  announcement (opens in a new tab)  in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  revealed that the federal government  is imposing a ban on more than  1,500 models (opens in a new tab) and variants of certain  "assault-style" handguns that have been used in mass shootings in Canada and  abroad.
The ban  does not  completely ban these  weapons, but the government  is offering current owners and  dealers of these  weapons the same  opportunity to  receive amnesty under  specific, time-limited  conditions while officials  work on the mandatory compensation  system.
So far, all the government has managed to get  around the  plan is for the  "Assault Firearms Compensation  Program" to be a  commercial pilot  phase, with the  promise that all other businesses will  soon receive instructions on how to  join.
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The Liberals said  the compensation  amounts (opens in a new tab) for the newly  banned firearms will be added  by the end of January  2025 and  that information  on how individual  gun owners  can participate in the  purchase will  be released "later in  2025."
In response to the  announcement, Conservative MP and public safety critic Raquel Dancho accused Trudeau of attacking  "legal and  controlled hunters, sport  hunters and  indigenous people who  use firearms safely and  legally, as they have for  generations."
"Trudeau's latest  sneak attack  on law-abiding Canadians and his continued  blindness to  the real gun criminals is an insult to the thousands of gun crime  victims who continue to be terrorized and lose their lives  because of Trudeau's catch-and-release policies,"  he said.

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