Amnesty Period for Prohibited Firearms Extended Until After Supreme Court Decision

The federal government has extended the deadline for owners of thousands of newly banned firearms to deactivate or turn in their guns as an appeal challenging Ottawa’s gun ban proceeds to the Supreme Court.

The government said the amnesty period to turn in around 2,500 banned firearm models will continue until 90 days after the Supreme Court issues a ruling on the legal challenge.

Canada’s top court agreed to hear the appeal in March but no hearing date has been announced yet. The court is expected to hear the case sometime next year.

Ban

Ottawa’s first firearms prohibition order went into effect in May 2020. Successive Liberal governments have banned approximately 2,500 models of firearms and variants in the past six years since then, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifles.

The government says these firearms are intended for military purposes and have no place in civilian Canadian society.

The Conservatives, as well as firearms rights advocacy groups, argue that the gun ban punishes legal firearms owners instead of going after criminals.

Prior to the latest news on the extension of the amnesty period, owners of the banned firearms were required to turn in, dispose of, or prove deactivation of the weapons before the amnesty would have expired on Oct. 30.

The new timeline allows owners who legally possess firearms that were banned to continue owning them without criminal liability.

Ottawa says the new extended expiry date will not impact its gun buyback program for affected owners, which is expected to finish by this October.

Gun control advocacy group PolySeSouvient reacted to the news of the extension of the amnesty period with dismay.

“This extension means that highly lethal, prohibited weapons will remain in private hands for many more months,” the organization wrote in a June 9 statement.

Meanwhile, firearms rights advocacy group Gun Owners of Canada responded with approval to the news of the extension of the amnesty period.

“If you haven’t withdrawn from this joke of a program yet, now would be a great time. The amnesty has been extended to 90 days after the Supreme Court makes its decision,” the group posted June 9 on X.