Firearms Act

Marginal note:Regulations

117 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) regulating the issuance of licences, registration certificates and authorizations, including regulations respecting the purposes for which they may be issued under any provision of this Act and prescribing the circumstances in which persons are or are not eligible to hold licences;

• (a.1) deeming permits to export goods, or classes of permits to export goods, that are issued under the Export and Import Permits Act to be authorizations to export for the purposes of this Act;

• (b) regulating the revocation of licences, registration certificates and authorizations;

• (c) prescribing the circumstances in which an individual does or does not need firearms

  • (i) to protect the life of that individual or of other individuals, or

  • (ii) for use in connection with his or her lawful profession or occupation;

• (d) regulating the use of firearms in target practice or target shooting competitions;

• (e) regulating

  • (i) the establishment and operation of shooting clubs and shooting ranges,

  • (ii) the activities that may be carried on at shooting clubs and shooting ranges,

  • (iii) the possession and use of firearms at shooting clubs and shooting ranges, and

  • (iv) the keeping and destruction of records in relation to shooting clubs and shooting ranges and members of those clubs and ranges;

• (f) regulating the establishment and maintenance of gun collections and the acquisition and disposal or disposition of firearms that form part or are to form part of a gun collection;

• (g) regulating the operation of gun shows, the activities that may be carried on at gun shows and the possession and use of firearms at gun shows;

• (h) regulating the storage, handling, transportation, shipping, display, advertising and mail-order sale of firearms and restricted weapons and defining the expression “mail-order sale” for the purposes of this Act;

• (i) regulating the storage, handling, transportation, shipping, possession for a prescribed purpose, transfer, exportation or importation of

  • (i) prohibited firearms, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices and prohibited ammunition, or

  • (ii) components or parts of prohibited firearms, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices and prohibited ammunition;

• (j) regulating the possession and use of restricted weapons;

• (j.1) respecting the possession and transportation of firearms during the extension period referred to in subsection 64(1.1);

• (k) for authorizing

  • (i) the possession at any place, or

  • (ii) the manufacture or transfer, whether or not for consideration, or offer to manufacture or transfer, whether or not for consideration,

  of firearms, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices, ammunition, prohibited ammunition and components and parts designed exclusively for use in the manufacture of or assembly into firearms;

• (k.1) respecting the importation or exportation of firearms, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices, ammunition, prohibited ammunition and components and parts designed exclusively for use in the manufacture of or assembly into firearms;

• (k.2) respecting the marking of firearms manufactured in Canada or imported into Canada and the removal, alteration, obliteration and defacing of those markings;

• (k.3) respecting the confirmation of declarations and authorizations to transport for the purposes of paragraph 35(1)(d), the confirmation of declarations for the purposes of paragraph 35.1(2)(d) and the confirmation of authorizations to import for the purposes of paragraph 40(2)(e);

• (l) regulating the storage, handling, transportation, shipping, acquisition, possession, transfer, exportation, importation, use and disposal or disposition of firearms, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices, prohibited ammunition and explosive substances

  • (i) by the following persons in the course of their duties or for the purposes of their employment, namely,

    • (A) peace officers,

    • (B) persons training to become police officers or peace officers under the control and supervision of a police force or a police academy or similar institution designated by the federal Minister or the lieutenant governor in council of a province,

    • (C) persons or members of a class of persons employed in the federal public administration or by the government of a province or municipality who are prescribed by the regulations made by the Governor in Council under Part III of the Criminal Code to be public officers, and

    • (D) chief firearms officers and firearms officers, and

  • (ii) by individuals on behalf of, and under the authority of, a police force or a department of the Government of Canada or of a province;

• (m) regulating the keeping and destruction of records in relation to firearms, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices and prohibited ammunition;

• (n) regulating the keeping and destruction of records by businesses in relation to ammunition;

• (o) creating offences consisting of contraventions of the regulations made under paragraph (d), (e), (f), (g), (i), (j), (k.1), (k.2), (l), (m) or (n);

• (p) prescribing the fees that are to be paid to Her Majesty in right of Canada for licences, registration certificates, authorizations, approvals of transfers and importations of firearms and confirmations by customs officers of documents under this Act;

• (q) waiving or reducing the fees payable under paragraph (p) in such circumstances as may be specified in the regulations;

• (r) prescribing the charges that are to be paid to Her Majesty in right of Canada in respect of costs incurred by Her Majesty in right of Canada in storing goods that are detained by customs officers or in disposing of goods;

• (s) respecting the operation of the Canadian Firearms Registry;

• (t) regulating the sending or issuance of notices and documents in electronic or other form, including

  • (i) the notices and documents that may be sent or issued in electronic or other form,

  • (ii) the persons or classes of persons by whom they may be sent or issued,

  • (iii) their signature in electronic or other form or their execution, adoption or authorization in a manner that pursuant to the regulations is to have the same effect for the purposes of this Act as their signature, and

  • (iv) the time and date when they are deemed to be received;

• (u) respecting the manner in which any provision of this Act or the regulations applies to any of the aboriginal peoples of Canada, and adapting any such provision for the purposes of that application;

• (v) repealing

  • (i) section 4 of the Cartridge Magazine Control Regulations, made by Order in Council P.C. 1992-1660 of July 16, 1992 and registered as SOR/92-460, and the heading before it,

  • (ii) the Designated Areas Firearms Order, C.R.C., chapter 430,

  • (iii) section 4 of the Firearms Acquisition Certificate Regulations, made by Order in Council P.C. 1992-1663 of July 16, 1992 and registered as SOR/92-461, and the heading before it,

  • (iv) section 7 of the Genuine Gun Collector Regulations, made by Order in Council P.C. 1992-1661 of July 16, 1992 and registered as SOR/92-435, and the heading before it,

  • (v) sections 8 and 13 of the Prohibited Weapons Control Regulations, made by Order in Council P.C. 1991-1925 of October 3, 1991 and registered as SOR/91-572, and the headings before them,

  • (vi) the Restricted Weapon Registration Certificate for Classes of Persons other than Individuals Regulations, made by Order in Council P.C. 1993-766 of April 20, 1993 and registered as SOR/93-200, and

  • (vii) sections 7, 15 and 17 of the Restricted Weapons and Firearms Control Regulations, made by Order in Council P.C. 1978-2572 of August 16, 1978 and registered as SOR/78-670, and the headings before them; and

• (w) prescribing anything that by any provision of this Act is to be prescribed by regulation.