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The Three Legal Classes of Firearms in
Canada:
Non-restricted firearms are ordinary
hunting and sporting rifles, shotguns and airguns with an overall length of 660mm or
greater. Many airguns fall into this class because they are capable of
achieving a muzzle velocity of 500 feet per second. If it is a
centrefire semi-automatic firearm, the barrel length must be at least
470mm to be non-restricted. These firearms must be stored, transported
and displayed according to Federal regulations and you need a firearms
licence to possess them. Provincial and municipal rules may further
regulate these firearms (e.g., Ontario hunting regulations
require that firearms being transported be encased at night). Certain
firearms, although they meet the above criteria, have been classified
as "restricted" or "prohibited" by order-in-council.
Restricted firearms include many handguns
and other firearms which do not meet the above specifications. Some
firearms are classified as "restricted" by Federal order-in-council.
All variants of the AR-15 genre of rifle are restricted firearms. A transport permit is required to transport a
restricted firearm from the location where the firearm is registered.
Anyone with the appropriate firearms licence and a valid purpose can
acquire this type of firearm. Hunting with restricted firearms is not
allowed in Canada.
Prohibited firearms include all fully
automatic firearms, converted automatics and a variety of other scary
looking firearms which have been classified as "prohibited" by
order-in-council. Most types of prohibited firearms are "grandfathered"
to their current legal owners (i.e., owners are allowed to keep
them), but cannot be transfered to non-grandfathered individuals.
Firearms converted from full-automatic to semi-automatic, and many
handguns (barrel lengths less than or equal to 105mm, .25 or .32
calibre) fall into the prohibited class. If you do not already own
prohibited long guns, there is generally no legal means to acquire
firearms of this type.
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