Revocation of Registration Certificates

The government has indicated its intention to change registration requirements for long guns. However, it will take time to amend the law. Until then, the current law continues to apply.

Under s. 91 of the Criminal Code, it is an offence to possess a firearm without a valid firearms licence and registration certificate.

Section 13 of the Firearms Act states that, to be eligible to hold a registration certificate for a firearm, an individual must hold a valid firearms licence allowing possession of that kind of firearm.

The Registrar of Firearms may revoke the registration certificates of firearm owners who no longer hold a valid firearms licence.

Every effort is being made to help firearm owners renew their licence before it expires and maintain lawful ownership of their firearms. For example, a renewal notice and a partially completed application form are mailed to licence holders at least 90 days before the expiry date of their licence. Another renewal notice is sent 30 days prior to the expiry date of a licence unless there is evidence that the licence holder has already submitted a renewal application or disposed of the firearms.

Licence renewal notices advise firearm owners of the risks they may face if they fail to renew their licence on time, including potential revocation of registration certificates and penalties under the Criminal Code for possessing a firearm without a valid licence or registration certificate.

To date, the compliance rate has been very high. Over 80 percent of affected owners have either renewed their licence or disposed of their firearms. However, there are still a number of registered firearm owners whose licence has expired. In January 2006, in accordance with his responsibilities under the Firearms Act, the Registrar began mailing a Notice of Revocation of a Registration Certificate to those individuals to inform them that their registration certificates have been revoked and that they will need to dispose of their firearms or seek a review of his decision.

The current national rate of such notices is about 3,000 to 5,000 per week. By June 1, 2006, approximately 68,000 such notices will have been mailed to individuals who have not renewed their firearms licence. Starting June 1, the number of revocation notices is expected to decline to an average of about 4,000 per month.

We are finding that most firearm owners have been taking action to comply with the law upon receiving a Notice of Revocation of a Registration Certificate. Therefore, we have held off in sending copies of the notice to police. We are now starting to send police copies of notices that were sent to firearm owners in January and February, 2006 if the owners have not taken any action to comply with the law or dispose of their firearms. For notices sent from March onward, a copy will only be mailed to police if the firearm owner has not taken any action within 30 business days.

Revocation notices inform firearm owners that one option for disposing of their firearms is to turn the firearm in to a police or firearms officer. This may result in a slight increase in the number of firearms being turned in to police over the next few weeks.

Please remember
If someone turns a firearm in to police for disposal, they should be given a receipt or a quit claim so that they can provide evidence, if required, that they have lawfully disposed of the firearm.

It is important to keep the data in the Canadian Firearms Registry as complete and accurate as possible. Therefore, if someone turns a firearm in to you, please send the particulars as soon as possible to the Canadian Firearms Registry, Certificate Amendment Quality Assurance Unit. This can be sent by fax to ( 613)993-5548, by e-mail to cau.cfr@cfc-cafc.gc.ca, or by surface mail to Canada Firearms Centre, Ottawa, ON K1A 1M6.