Is it legal to own a shotgun in Quebec?

Question

I will be living in Montreal as an international student. Is it legal to own/possess in my home a shotgun ? What about a pistol?

Answer 1

In Canada, it is illegal to posess any gun that is not registered with the federal government program. Our laws are much stricter than USA.

Both shotguns and handguns are allowed, but there are restrictions on them. This website seems to give a pretty good representation of the regulations:

http://www.canadagunlaws.com/

The most specific issues are

- the gun must be stored without any ammunition loaded in ANY part of the gun...not in the chambers, and that means it can't be in the magazine even if the magazine is not in the gun.

- the gun must be stored in a "disabled" state by means of a trigger lock and/or cable lock

Because of these restrictions, if someone breaks into your home, it will actually take you longer to unlock the gun, load the bullets, and fire than it will for the intruder to hack you to pieces with his machete or knock you unconcious with a baseball bat.

So in my opinion, unless you plan to go to the shooting range here in Canada and practice your marksmanship, may as well leave the gun at home, and just buy a Louisville Slugger to keep by the door when you get here!  ;-)

Answer 2

I seriously doubt it - unless you own a valid permit for your gun and have it properly registered with The Canadian Gun Registry.

Are you from the U.S. or something?

Figures...

Let's see the Canadian Rules & Regulations on this delicate matter here, shall we?

By law, a potential customer must be 18 years of age or older to purchase a firearm or legally maintain possession of one. Citizens of Canada under the age of 18 but over the age of 12 may procure a Minor’s Licence which does not allow them to purchase a firearm but allows them to borrow a firearm unsupervised and purchase ammunition. Children under the age of 12 that are found to need a firearm to hunt or trap may also be awarded the Minor's Licence. This is generally reserved for children in remote locations, primarily aboriginal communities that engage in sustenance hunting.

By law, as of January 1, 2001, all firearms in Canada must legally be registered with the Canadian gun registry. In early 2006 the Conservative Party of Canada formed the 39th Canadian government and announced an amnesty period of one year (later extended by a further year) in which licensed or previously licensed long gun owners would not be punished for not registering their long guns. The legal requirement to register as set forth by law has not been revoked. Bill C-21, which would revoke the requirement to register long-guns, has been introduced by the Government and is currently being debated in Parliament. It is however opposed by the Opposition parties who together have a majority of seats in the House of Commons.

To purchase a handgun or other restricted firearms, a person must have a restricted licence and be a member of a certified range. To use restricted firearms a person must also obtain long term authorization to transport (LTATT) from their provincial Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) to move the firearm to and from the range. Short term authorization to transport (STATT) is required in most cases to move a firearm from a business to the owner's home, or when the owner wishes to change the address where the firearm is stored. Firearms can be shipped without an STATT by a bonded courier directly to an owner's home.

Semi-automatic center-fire rifles and shotguns have a maximum magazine capacity of five rounds. Lee-Enfield rifles and the M1 Garand are exempted from this requirement by name. There is no restriction of magazine capacity for rimfire rifles or manual action rifles and shotguns. All handguns have a maximum capacity of ten rounds.

The legal capacity of a specific magazine is determined by the firearm it was made for, not the firearm it is used in. The Beretta CX-4 uses a five round magazines that is otherwise identical to a ten round Beretta M92 magazine. The ten round M92 magazine can be legally used in the CX-4 since the magazine was manufactured for a pistol, not the rifle.

Hope this answers your question!