TORONTO -- The federal government has announced a ban on military-grade “assault-style” weapons in Canada, barring licensed gun owners from selling, transporting, importing or using these types of weapons, effective immediately.
This is being done by changing the classification of these guns in Canada, moving them from non-restricted or restricted class, to “prohibited.”
Gun owners who already own these assault-style weapons will be allowed to grandfather in their ownerships, allowing them to still possess these guns under specific terms. Owners will also have the ability to be compensated through a buyback program, though the details of these options have yet to be outlined.
Gun owners must be in compliance with the law by April 2022. Those who have not disposed of any banned firearms by that time may face sanctions under the Criminal Code.
The ban includes guns that have been used in past Canadian shootings, such as:
- the Ruger Mini-14 that was used in the Ecole Polytechnique massacre in Montreal in 1989, and which the government estimates there are 16,860 currently in circulation in Canada;
- the M14 semi-automatic that was used in the 2014 Moncton shooting, which the government estimates there are 5,230 in Canada;
- the Beretta CX4 Storm that was used in the Dawson College shooting, which the government estimates there are approximately 1,510 currently in circulation;
- and the CSA-VZ-58 that the gunman attempted to use in the Quebec mosque shooting, which the government says there are 11,590 in Canada.
The full list of weapons has been published online and can be seen in the embed below.
