Canadian Firearms Classification Timeline

A sourced timeline of how Canadian firearms classification moved from early handgun controls to the modern non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited framework.

Reference page

Classification is a timeline, not a fixed snapshot.

Use this page when a claim depends on when a firearm class, registry rule, Order in Council, handgun freeze, amnesty date, or compensation process entered the file.

Boundary This is not legal advice and not a firearm-status lookup. For a specific firearm, use current law, the Canadian Firearms Program, the Firearms Reference Table where applicable, and qualified advice when the answer matters.
1892

Early handgun controls

The first Criminal Code brought pistol permit and vendor-record rules into the frame.

1934 to 1951

Handgun registration

Registration became real, then centralized under the Commissioner of the RCMP.

1968 to 1969

Restricted and prohibited categories

Classification became a formal policy instrument, including Order-in-Council designations.

1995 to 1998

The modern PAL architecture

The Firearms Act created the administrative framework that still shapes licensing and registration.

2020 to 2025

Named prohibitions expand

Recent amendments moved classification into model lists, amnesty orders, and FRT updates.

2026

Compensation joins the file

The public record now links classification, compensation, amnesty, and review language.

Current Classes In One Place

The RCMP states that firearms in Canada fall into three classes: non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited.

Non-restricted is the residual class: a firearm that is not restricted or prohibited. Most common rifles and shotguns are non-restricted, but the exceptions matter.

Restricted includes handguns that are not prohibited, certain centrefire semi-automatic firearms with barrels under 470 mm, firearms designed or adapted to be fired when reduced to less than 660 mm by folding, telescoping, or otherwise, and firearms prescribed as restricted.

Prohibited includes categories such as automatic firearms, certain short-barrel handguns, firearms altered by cutting or sawing below specified dimensions, firearms prescribed as prohibited by regulation, and the post-Bill C-21 category for certain newly designed semi-automatic centrefire firearms.

For a specific firearm, the safe answer is not this page. It is current law, the Canadian Firearms Program, the Firearms Reference Table where applicable, and qualified advice when the answer matters.

The Timeline

Before 1892 - carrying handguns already had limits

RCMP's history page records that before 1892, carrying a handgun without reasonable cause to fear assault against life or property was already restricted. That matters because Canadian firearm control did not begin with the modern licensing system. Handguns were singled out early.

1892 - the first Criminal Code

The first Criminal Code required a basic permit to carry a pistol unless the person had cause to fear assault or injury. Vendors also had record-keeping obligations for pistol and air-gun sales.

1934 - handgun registration becomes real

RCMP describes 1934 as the first real handgun registration requirement. Records identified the owner, the owner's address, and the firearm. The records were not yet centralized.

1951 - the handgun registry is centralized

In 1951, the government centralized the handgun registry under the Commissioner of the RCMP. Automatic firearms also had to be registered, and serial-number requirements changed.

1968 to 1969 - categories arrive

The late-1960s reforms created the categories of "firearm", "restricted weapon", and "prohibited weapon." RCMP says this ended confusion over specific types of weapons and allowed legislative controls for each category. The same period allowed Order-in-Council designations.

This is one of the important hinge points. Classification became a more formal policy instrument.

1977 to 1979 - FACs, business permits, and full automatics

Bill C-51 received Royal Assent in 1977. Its changes included Firearms Acquisition Certificates, Firearms and Ammunition Business Permits, Chief Firearms Officer positions, new offences, search and seizure powers, and new definitions for prohibited and restricted weapons.

Fully automatic weapons became prohibited unless they had been registered as restricted weapons before January 1, 1978. FAC and business-permit requirements came into force in 1979.

1991 to 1994 - Bill C-17 tightens the system

Bill C-17 changed the Firearms Acquisition Certificate system, including photographs, references, a mandatory waiting period, safety training, expanded screening, storage and transport regulations, and controls on military, paramilitary, and high-firepower firearms. RCMP records a series of Orders in Council prohibiting or restricting most paramilitary rifles and some types of non-sporting ammunition.

1995 to 1998 - the Firearms Act

Bill C-68 received Royal Assent in 1995. The Firearms Act created the modern administrative and regulatory licensing/registration framework outside the Criminal Code. The Firearms Act came into force on December 1, 1998.

The modern PAL era grows from this architecture.

2001 to 2003 - licensing and universal registration

Starting January 1, 2001, a person needed a licence to possess and acquire firearms. By January 1, 2003, RCMP records that a valid licence and registration certificate were required for all firearms, regardless of legal classification.

2012 - the federal non-restricted registry ends

The Ending the Long-gun Registry Act came into force on April 5, 2012. RCMP states that it removed the requirement to register non-restricted firearms, ordered destruction of existing registration records, and allowed transferors to confirm licence validity before completing a transfer.

Quebec litigation delayed the destruction path for Quebec records. RCMP records that after the Supreme Court dismissed Quebec's appeal in 2015, the Canadian Firearms Program stopped accepting and processing registration/transfer applications for non-restricted firearms from Quebec and the government destroyed official records related to those non-restricted firearms.

2015 - C-42 changes licensing and classification authority

The Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act received Royal Assent on June 18, 2015. RCMP records that first-time licence applicants had to take classroom firearms safety courses, CFO discretion became subject to regulations, and the Governor in Council had authority to prescribe firearms to be non-restricted or restricted.

2020 - the May 1 prohibition

On May 1, 2020, the government amended the Classification Regulations to prohibit over 1,500 makes and models of what it called "assault-style" firearms and their variants, along with certain components. The RCMP's current May 2020 page describes 9 types by make and model and their variants, plus firearms with a bore of 20 mm or greater, firearms capable of discharging a projectile with muzzle energy greater than 10,000 joules, and upper receivers of M16, AR-10, AR-15, and M4 pattern firearms.

RCMP's current May 2020 page says the amnesty period is in effect and will expire on October 30, 2026.

2022 - handgun transfers freeze

On October 21, 2022, a national freeze on the transfer of handguns by individuals came into force by regulation, with exemptions for certain individuals. The later Bill C-21 legislation codified the freeze.

2023 - Bill C-21 receives Royal Assent

Public Safety Canada announced that Bill C-21 received Royal Assent on December 15, 2023. Its measures included codifying the handgun freeze, new red-flag laws, increased penalties for firearms smuggling and trafficking, and changes to the definition of a prohibited firearm.

2024 and 2025 - additional named prohibitions

On December 5, 2024, the government amended the Classification Regulations to reclassify 324 named makes and models and variants as prohibited. RCMP says the Firearms Reference Table was updated, the prohibition took effect immediately, and an Amnesty Order expiring October 30, 2026 protects owners who were in legal possession on the day the amendments came into force.

On March 7, 2025, the government made another Classification Regulations amendment, again reclassifying certain named firearms and variants as prohibited. RCMP says the affected firearms cannot be legally used, sold, imported, or transferred to another individual and can only be transported as provided in the Amnesty Order.

2026 - compensation and review become part of the file

By May 20, 2026, Public Safety Canada's live Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program page described the individual declaration period as ended, with collection, deactivation, and compensation processes expected to run from spring to early fall 2026.

That page also says the government has banned more than 2,500 makes and models of what it calls "assault-style" firearms since May 2020, and links the current program to the 2020, 2024, and 2025 Amnesty Orders that protect licensed businesses and individual owners until October 30, 2026.

This does not create a fourth class of firearm. It does show where the modern classification file has landed: a classification system, a compensation program, an amnesty deadline, and a promised review of the classification regime now sit on the same public file.

What The Timeline Shows

Canadian firearms classification has not been one policy choice. It has been a sequence of control points:

  • handgun carry and sale controls;
  • handgun registration;
  • centralized registry administration;
  • restricted and prohibited categories;
  • acquisition certificates;
  • safety-course and screening requirements;
  • modern licensing;
  • non-restricted registry expansion and repeal;
  • Orders in Council and classification regulations;
  • the handgun transfer freeze;
  • current model-by-model prohibitions;
  • compensation-program and classification-review language.

The practical lesson is not that classification is simple. It is that classification is a living policy instrument. Anyone writing about Canadian firearms has to date the claim, name the source, and avoid treating a past classification as a permanent fact.

Keep the source trail in one place.

If this page has you checking policy claims, keep the source trail tidy before the next update changes the page.

Use the Holdover Canadian Firearms Policy Source Tracker to record the current Public Safety, RCMP, Canada Gazette, and Justice source pages behind buyback, OIC, classification, compensation, and amnesty claims.

Safety note: the tracker is a worksheet for source hygiene, not legal advice or a substitute for current official guidance.

Get the tracker through The Dispatch

Source Table

Holdover maintains the working source table for this page at Data/canadian-firearms-classification-timeline-current.csv.

Related references

Source-led reference pages for the terms and policy context behind this piece.

Sources