The Government of Canada wants to render the roughly 1500 assault-style guns they had previously banned last May effectively useless as a firearms. This is coupled with a buyback program for the banned weapons that were purchased legally before their sale was outlawed and red flag laws.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just announced Bill C-21 in a press conference, joined by Bill Blair, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, who had tabled the bill in the House of Commons this morning, as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and others.
The Executive Order that followed the shooting spree in Nova Scotia banned the sale, use and transport of these military-style weapons, but it only affected those not yet in circulation. People who had legally bought these firearms prior to the ban were given an amnesty while the government figured out what to do next.
With Bill C-21, all weapons included in the May ban but purchased before it came into effect can no longer be legally fired (at a gun range or anywhere), transported, transported, sold or bequeathed to another person. Those, such as gun collectors, who want to keep their weapons, must store them in a safe way and will be held responsible if criminals end up with them.
This is meant to be incentive for people to take part in a buyback program and sell their now legally useless guns to the government. Details and cost of this program will be worked out in the coming months as the bill makes its way through Parliament.
The Government also wants to enact red flag laws that will allow friends, family and neighbours to report potentially dangerous situations (domestic abuse, self-harm) where a gun is present and have that gun taken away before it can be used.
C-21 would also allow municipalities to ban guns, handguns in particular, on their territory.
Several inaccuracies are included in your article, which is disappointing to say the least. First off, the term “military-style weapons” is fully made up in an effort to scare people. The vast majority of the firearms banned by the May 2020 OIC are not employed by military forces, some are used by Police forces. The RCMP and most Police agencies in Canada use AR-15 (ArmaLite Model 15) but call them “Patrol Carbines” not “Military style assault weapons”.
Fully Automatic firearms have been banned in Canada since Bill C-51 in 1977 and in 1978 Bill C-17 prohibited, with strict penalties, magazines for semi automatic center fire firearms with a capacity over 5 rounds. Some firearms fall outside this prohibition based on design, such as firearms using Enblocs and rim fire semi automatic firearms usually in .22 caliber.
As for the OIC itself, it did indeed affect all firearms on the list in circulation. Businesses suddenly had tens of thousands of inventory rendered illegal with no recourse, private, law abiding gun owners found the same had happen to them. The vast majority of the firearms “banned” already carried a restricted status, meaning they could only be transported to and from a legal firearm range on a pre-determined route which was provided to the RCMP with appropriate paperwork. Some of the firearms on the list are large caliber hunting rifles or target shooting rifles, previously with a “non-restricted” classification allowing them to be fired in more places (for example hunting on private land or on a private range).
When the OIC came into effect, not a single one of those firearms was allowed to be fired or used, except in the case of certain sustenance hunters. The kicker is the perpetrator of the NS mass murder in 2020 acquired the majority of his guns illegally from the USA, not from legal gun owners or legal sources. The killer was not allowed to own firearms and coerced his common law spouse into purchasing him ammunition as he legally could not. The majority of gun crime in Canada is committed with firearms smuggled across the border from the USA then distributed here.