Canada Post can now ship restricted firearms returned in gun buyback

A restricted gun licence holder holds an AR-15 at his home in Langley, B.C., on May 1, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

OTTAWA — The federal government is giving Canada Post the ability to store and transport prohibited firearms in new regulations that bring the retail gun buyback program one step closer to beginning.

An order-in-council dated Oct. 16 allows for prohibited assault-style firearms to be removed from safes at firearms retailers, transported and ultimately destroyed.

More than 1,500 models of firearms were banned in May 2020 after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia left 23 people dead, including the gunman.

Since then, retailers that have the weapons have been required to securely keep them in their inventory.

"Once the program launches, the updated shipping regulations will make the affected firearms and devices mailable matter and will temporarily permit businesses taking part in the program to ship firearms or devices via post," said Gabriel Brunet, spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, in a statement on Friday.

LeBlanc previously said that the long-promised gun buyback would begin this fall.

First, the government will buy banned firearms from retail stores and have them destroyed. An individual buyback program for people who own prohibited weapons begins next year.

In a statement, Canada Post said it is prepared to take part in the first phase of the buyback program, because retailers are already familiar with the strict rules required to safely mail firearms.

The Crown corporation maintains it will not take part in the second phase of the program, involving individual firearm owners, because of concerns with employee safety.

Gun control advocacy group PolySeSouvient, which represents survivors and families of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, said it's good news to see progress made on the buyback but it has doubts about the program's overall effectiveness.

"Unless the list of prohibited assault weapons is completed, current owners of weapons prohibited in 2020 can simply take the money from the buyback to purchase new ones," massacre survivor Nathalie Provost said in a statement.

The group is calling on LeBlanc to "close a loophole" and ban more than 400 weapons that entered the market after the May 2020 ban.

"These new models that entered the market remain legal, available and mostly non-restricted from what we can see,” Provost said.

The Criminal Code amnesty for owning prohibited assault-style firearms has been extended twice so far, and is now set to expire on Oct. 30, 2025. The regulations allowing these firearms to be mailed expires on the same date.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 25, 2024.