The Liberal’s long-promised gun control legislation, Bill C-21, is set to become law after final passage by the Senate on Thursday night, without amendment.
The legislation enshrines some measures already enacted by cabinet orders like the freeze on handgun sales and licences for most Canadians, a Criminal Code definition of “assault-style weapons” and an associated ban on these weapons, plus enhanced provisions around 3D-printed ghost guns and smuggling.
Exemptions will be put in place for the handgun ban for athletes taking part in or coaching elite-level sport shooting such as the Olympics.
Bill C-21 also expands the definition of domestic violence to include all forms of intimate partner and family violence, such as coercive control or threats of suicide.
The legislation also prohibits anyone who is the subject of a protection order, such as a restraining order, from owning or possessing firearms, better known as “red flag laws.”
These red flag law provisions also allow a chief firearms officer to revoke someone’s firearm licence if there are reasonable grounds to suspect they may have engaged in domestic violence or stalking.
People will also have to present a firearm possession licence if they want to purchase gun magazines.
There are still parts of the legislation that need to be finalized, most notably the retail and individual gun buybacks. This covers the more than 1,500 firearms banned through a cabinet order in the wake of the Portapique, N.S., mass shooting, including the AR-15 and other “assault-style weapons.”
The Criminal Code amnesty for individuals and retailers who already had these firearms in their possession or inventory was quietly extended for a second lime in October to allow for more time to draft and implement the buyback program.
The exemption is now in place until Oct. 30, 2025.
More to come
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