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Firearms Act (S.C. 1995, c. 39)

Full Document:  

Act current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2023-12-15. Previous Versions

Canadian Firearms Registration System (continued)

Records of Chief Firearms Officers (continued)

Marginal note:Reporting of loss, finding, theft and destruction

 A chief firearms officer to whom the loss, finding, theft or destruction of a prohibited firearm or a restricted firearm is reported shall have the Registrar informed without delay of the loss, finding, theft or destruction.

  • 1995, c. 39, s. 88
  • 2012, c. 6, s. 24

Disclosure of Information

Marginal note:Authorization to disclose

  •  (1) If the Commissioner, the Registrar or a chief firearms officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that an individual is using or has used a licence to transfer or offer to transfer a firearm for the purpose of committing an offence referred to in subsection 99(1) or 100(1) of the Criminal Code, the Commissioner, the Registrar or the chief firearms officer may disclose, for the purpose of investigating or prosecuting an offence under that subsection, the following information to a law enforcement agency:

    • (a) the individual’s name, date of birth and address;

    • (b) the licence number and province of issuance of the individual’s most recent licence and the dates of issue of the first licence and most recent licence issued to the individual;

    • (c) a list of all restricted and prohibited firearms acquired by the individual and whether they were acquired from a business or an individual;

    • (d) the number, date of issue and expiration date of the registration certificates for all firearms for which the individual was issued a registration certificate and the firearm identification number of those firearms;

    • (e) the serial number, make, model, manufacturer, calibre and barrel length of all firearms for which the individual was issued a registration certificate;

    • (f) whether a firearm for which the individual was issued a registration certificate has been transferred or reported lost or stolen; and

    • (g) any other prescribed information.

  • Marginal note:For greater certainty

    (2) For greater certainty, nothing in subsection (1) is intended to derogate from the powers conferred on the Commissioner, the Registrar or a chief firearms officer under this Act or any other Act of Parliament or an Act of a provincial legislature or the common law to disclose information to a law enforcement agency.

Reporting of Prohibition Orders

Marginal note:Reporting of prohibition orders

 Every court, judge or justice that makes, varies or revokes a prohibition order shall have a chief firearms officer informed without delay of the prohibition order or its variation or revocation.

Access to Records

Marginal note:Right of access

 The Registrar has a right of access to records kept by a chief firearms officer under section 87 and a chief firearms officer has a right of access to records kept by the Registrar under section 83 or 85 and to records kept by other chief firearms officers under section 87.

 [Repealed, 2019, c. 9, s. 11]

Electronic Filing

Marginal note:Electronic filing

  •  (1) Subject to the regulations, notices and documents that are sent to or issued by the Registrar pursuant to this or any other Act of Parliament may be sent or issued in electronic or other form in any manner specified by the Registrar.

  • Marginal note:Time of receipt

    (2) For the purposes of this Act and Part III of the Criminal Code, a notice or document that is sent or issued in accordance with subsection (1) is deemed to have been received at the time and date provided by the regulations.

Marginal note:Records of Registrar

  •  (1) Records required by section 83 or 85 to be kept by the Registrar may

    • (a) be in bound or loose-leaf form or in photographic film form; or

    • (b) be entered or recorded by any system of mechanical or electronic data processing or by any other information storage device that is capable of reproducing any required information in intelligible written or printed form within a reasonable time.

  • Marginal note:Storage of documents or information in electronic or other form

    (2) Subject to the regulations, a document or information received by the Registrar under this Act in electronic or other form may be entered or recorded by any information storage device, including any system of mechanical or electronic data processing, that is capable of reproducing stored documents or information in intelligible written or printed form within a reasonable time.

  • Marginal note:Probative value

    (3) Where the Registrar maintains a record of a document otherwise than in written or printed form, an extract from that record that is certified by the Registrar has the same probative value as the document would have had if it had been proved in the ordinary way.

Reports

Marginal note:Report to federal Minister

  •  (1) The Commissioner shall, no later than May 31 of each year and at any other times that the federal Minister may in writing request, submit to the federal Minister a report, in the form and including the information that the federal Minister may direct, with regard to the administration of this Act.

  • Marginal note:Information on disclosures

    (1.1) Each report shall include information relating to the disclosures made under section 88.1 during the period to which the report relates, including the number of disclosures made to a law enforcement agency.

  • Marginal note:Report to be laid before Parliament

    (2) The federal Minister shall have each report laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the federal Minister receives it.

Marginal note:Information to be submitted to Commissioner

 A chief firearms officer shall submit to the Commissioner the prescribed information with regard to the administration of this Act at the prescribed time and in the prescribed form for the purpose of enabling the Commissioner to compile the reports referred to in section 93.

  • 1995, c. 39, s. 94
  • 2003, c. 8, s. 50

General

Agreements with Provinces

Marginal note:Agreements with provinces

 The federal Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into agreements with the governments of the provinces

  • (a) providing for payment of compensation by Canada to the provinces in respect of administrative costs actually incurred by the provinces in relation to processing licences, registration certificates and authorizations and applications for licences, registration certificates and authorizations and the operation of the Canadian Firearms Registration System; and

  • (b) notwithstanding subsections 17(1) and (4) of the Financial Administration Act, authorizing the governments of the provinces to withhold those costs, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement, from fees under paragraph 117(p) collected or received by the governments of the provinces.

Other Matters

Marginal note:Other obligations not affected

 The issuance of a licence, registration certificate or authorization under this Act does not affect the obligation of any person to comply with any other Act of Parliament or any regulation made under an Act of Parliament respecting firearms or other weapons.

Marginal note:Exemptions — Governor in Council

  •  (1) Subject to subsection (4), the Governor in Council may exempt any class of non-residents from the application of any provision of this Act or the regulations, or from the application of any of sections 91 to 95, 99 to 101, 103 to 107 and 117.03 of the Criminal Code, for any period specified by the Governor in Council.

  • Marginal note:Exemptions — federal Minister

    (2) Subject to subsection (4), the federal Minister may exempt any non-resident from the application of any provision of this Act or the regulations, or from the application of any of sections 91 to 95, 99 to 101, 103 to 107 and 117.03 of the Criminal Code, for any period not exceeding one year.

  • Marginal note:Exemptions — provincial minister

    (3) Subject to subsection (4), a provincial minister may exempt from the application in that province of any provision of this Act or the regulations or Part III of the Criminal Code, for any period not exceeding one year, the employees, in respect of any thing done by them in the course of or for the purpose of their duties or employment, of any business that holds a licence authorizing the business to acquire prohibited firearms, prohibited weapons, prohibited devices or prohibited ammunition.

  • Marginal note:Public safety

    (4) Subsections (1) to (3) do not apply if it is not desirable, in the interests of the safety of any person, that the exemption be granted.

  • Marginal note:Conditions

    (5) The authority granting an exemption may attach to it any reasonable condition that the authority considers desirable in the particular circumstances and in the interests of the safety of any person.

  • 1995, c. 39, s. 97
  • 2001, c. 41, s. 96

Marginal note:Exception — handguns

 Sections 12.2 and 19.1 do not apply in respect of an individual who

  • (a) holds an authorization to carry in respect of a handgun; or

  • (b) meets the prescribed criteria and annually provides a letter to a chief firearms officer from a provincial or national sport shooting governing body indicating

    • (i) that they are training, competing or coaching in a handgun shooting discipline that is on the programme of the International Olympic Committee or the International Paralympic Committee,

    • (ii) the disciplines in which they train, compete or coach, and

    • (iii) that the handgun in question is necessary for training, competing or coaching in those disciplines.

Delegation

Marginal note:Authorized chief firearms officer may perform functions of provincial minister

 A chief firearms officer of a province who is authorized in writing by a provincial minister may perform the function of the provincial minister of designating firearms officers for the province.

Marginal note:Designated officers may perform functions of chief firearms officers

 A firearms officer who is designated in writing by a chief firearms officer may perform any of the duties and functions of the chief firearms officer under this Act or Part III of the Criminal Code that are specified in the designation.

  • 1995, c. 39, s. 99
  • 2003, c. 8, s. 52

Marginal note:Designated officers may perform functions of Registrar

 A person who is designated in writing by the Registrar for the purpose of this section may perform such duties and functions of the Registrar under this Act or Part III of the Criminal Code as are specified in the designation.

Inspection

Marginal note:Definition of “inspector”

 In sections 102 to 105, inspector means a firearms officer and includes, in respect of a province, a member of a class of individuals designated by the provincial minister.

Marginal note:Inspection

  •  (1) Subject to section 104, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Act and the regulations, an inspector may at any reasonable time enter and inspect any place where the inspector believes on reasonable grounds a business is being carried on or there is a record of a business, any place in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds there is a gun collection or a record in relation to a gun collection or any place in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds there is a prohibited firearm or there are more than 10 firearms and may

    • (a) open any container that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds contains a firearm or other thing in respect of which this Act or the regulations apply;

    • (b) examine any firearm and examine any other thing that the inspector finds and take samples of it;

    • (c) conduct any tests or analyses or take any measurements; and

    • (d) require any person to produce for examination or copying any records, books of account or other documents that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds contain information that is relevant to the enforcement of this Act or the regulations.

  • Marginal note:Operation of data processing systems and copying equipment

    (2) In carrying out an inspection of a place under subsection (1), an inspector may

    • (a) use or cause to be used any data processing system at the place to examine any data contained in or available to the system;

    • (b) reproduce any record or cause it to be reproduced from the data in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output and remove the print-out or other output for examination or copying; and

    • (c) use or cause to be used any copying equipment at the place to make copies of any record, book of account or other document.

  • Marginal note:Use of force

    (3) In carrying out an inspection of a place under subsection (1), an inspector may not use force.

  • Marginal note:Receipt for things taken

    (4) An inspector who takes any thing while carrying out an inspection of a place under subsection (1) must give to the owner or occupant of the place at the time that the thing is taken a receipt for the thing that describes the thing with reasonable precision, including, in the case of a firearm, the serial number if available of the firearm.

  • Marginal note:Definition of “business”

    (5) For greater certainty, in this section, business has the meaning assigned by subsection 2(1).

Marginal note:Duty to assist inspectors

 The owner or person in charge of a place that is inspected by an inspector under section 102 and every person found in the place shall

  • (a) give the inspector all reasonable assistance to enable him or her to carry out the inspection and exercise any power conferred by section 102; and

  • (b) provide the inspector with any information relevant to the enforcement of this Act or the regulations that he or she may reasonably require.

Marginal note:Inspection of dwelling-house

  •  (1) An inspector may not enter a dwelling-house under section 102 except

    • (a) on reasonable notice to the owner or occupant, except where a business is being carried on in the dwelling-house; and

    • (b) with the consent of the occupant or under a warrant.

  • Marginal note:Authority to issue warrant

    (2) A justice who on ex parte application is satisfied by information on oath

    • (a) that the conditions for entry described in section 102 exist in relation to a dwelling-house,

    • (b) that entry to the dwelling-house is necessary for any purpose relating to the enforcement of this Act or the regulations, and

    • (c) that entry to the dwelling-house has been refused or that there are reasonable grounds for believing that entry will be refused

    may issue a warrant authorizing the inspector named in it to enter that dwelling-house subject to any conditions that may be specified in the warrant.

  • Marginal note:Areas that may be inspected

    (3) For greater certainty, an inspector who is carrying out an inspection of a dwelling-house may enter and inspect only

    • (a) that part of a room of the dwelling-house in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds there is a firearm, prohibited weapon, restricted weapon, prohibited device, prohibited ammunition, a record in relation to a gun collection or all or part of a device or other thing required by a regulation made under paragraph 117(h) respecting the storage of firearms and restricted weapons; and

    • (b) in addition, in the case of a dwelling-house where the inspector believes on reasonable grounds a business is being carried on, that part of a room in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds there is ammunition or a record of the business.

  • 1995, c. 39, s. 104
  • 2003, c. 8, s. 53(F)
 

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