Movie Gun Services LLC • Specialists in Heavy Weapons and Pyro for the entertainment industry since 1985

Licensing and Registration Requirements for "LIVE" Blanked Firearms:
Firearm owner and users in Canada need a valid firearms license allowing them to possess firearms and a Canadian registration certificate for each firearm in their possession.

Special Bulletin for the Entertainment Industry No. 5In - A Snapshot

1. Amnesty extended until December 31, 2000
2. Changes to Firearms Act tabled in Parliament. These would:
   • Grandfather some prohibited handguns in business inventories; and
   • Ease licensing requirements for employees of firearms businesses.
3. Proposed changes to the Act must be approved by Parliament before they can take effect. This will likely take several months.

License Requirements for Employees

If Parliament approves the proposed amendment:

• Employees would no longer need a valid Possession and Acquisition License (PAL) or Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC) to handle restricted or prohibited weapons, prohibited ammunition or prohibited devices. (However, they would still have to be eligible for a license pursuant to sections 5 and 6 of the Act.)
• Employees who handle firearms would still need a valid FAC or PAL. If the business has restricted or prohibited firearms, the employees' license must be valid for restricted firearms.

Prohibited Handguns

The Firearms Act bans handguns with a barrel length of 105 mm or less, as well as 25 and 32 caliber handguns, except for certain handguns used in competitions governed by the rules of the International Shooting Union (ISU).

The proposed amendment would grandfather those prohibited handguns that were in your inventory and reported to the Registrar on or before February 14, 1995. This would:

• allow you to sell these handguns to grandfathered individuals who are licensed to acquire them; and
• allow grandfathered individuals to keep prohibited handguns that they bought from your business after February 14, 1995 if you had reported the handguns to the Registrar on or before that date.

To be grandfathered, an individual must have owned at least one prohibited handgun that was registered in Canada, in their name, on February 14, 1995, and have continuously owned such a handgun since December 1, 1998.

Extension Of Amnesty

The amnesty has been extended until December 31, 2000 to give businesses and individuals more time to dispose of unregistered restricted firearms as well as prohibited handguns that they are not eligible to possess.

Amnesty Terms for Unregistered Restricted Firearms

Licensed businesses that were not required to have a business permit under the former law can either turn in unregistered restricted firearms or they have the additional option of registering the firearms by January 1, 2001.

Amnesty Terms for Prohibited Handguns

If you have prohibited handguns in your inventory, your options depend on when your business reported the handguns to the Registrar.

Dealers' Handguns Reported On or Before February 14, 1995

If Parliament approves the proposed changes to the Firearms Act, these handguns would become grandfathered and you would have more options for selling them. In the meantime, your options are to:

• Sell or give them to a Public Service Agency or to a business or museum licensed under subsection 11(2) of the Firearms Act to possess such handguns;
• Export them in accordance with all applicable legal requirements in Canada and the country where they are being exported;
• Deactivate them so that they are no longer firearms;
• Replace the short barrel with one longer than 105 mm so that the handgun becomes a restricted firearm, and turning in the prohibited barrel to a police officer or a firearms officer; or
• Turn them in to a police officer or a firearms officer for destruction or disposal.

  Dealers' Handguns Reported After February 14, 1995

  During the amnesty period, your business may dispose of these handguns only by:

  • Deactivating the handgun so that it is no longer a firearm;
  • Replacing the short barrel with one longer than 105 mm so that the handgun becomes a restricted firearm, and turning in the prohibited barrel to a police officer or a firearms officer; or,
  • Turning in the handgun to a police officer or a firearms officer for destruction or disposal.

telephone: 1 800 731-4000 (Toll Free)

web site: www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca

e-mail: cfc-cafc@cfc-cafc.gc.ca