Firearm Safety-Training Requirements

The Firearms Act strives to reduce firearm-related deaths and injuries by requiring that applicants for a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) or a Minor’s Licence have an adequate knowledge of firearm laws and safe-handling practices. For this reason, all applicants for a PAL or Minor’s Licence must meet specific safety training standards in order to be eligible for a licence.

Requirements for PAL Applicants

To be eligible for a PAL, applicants must have passed the written and practical tests for the Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC). This course has only been in existence since 1993.

Exceptions:

• The Attorneys General of Manitoba and Quebec designated some provincial hunter-safety courses as equivalent to the CFSC. Individuals who passed one of those course before 1995 do not need to pass the CFSC.
• At their discretion, a Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) may offer “alternative certification” to an individual if the CFO is satisfied that the individual’s knowledge of firearms laws and safe-handling practices meets the standards set for licensing. To be eligible for alternative certification, an individual must have lawfully owned a firearm since 1979 unless they are applying for a PAL under the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada Adaptations Regulations (Firearms).

In addition to meeting the requirements set out above, applicants for a PAL to acquire restricted or prohibited firearms must also have met one of the following requirements:

• They must have passed the Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course (CRFSC); or
• They must have obtained alternative certification from a CFO for those classes of firearms. The adaptations noted above for certain Aboriginal people do not apply to individuals who wish to be licensed for restricted and prohibited firearms.

Individuals who passed the CFSC prior to February 1999 are deemed to have passed the CRFSC as well.

Individuals aged 18 and older may take the written and practical tests for the CFSC and CRFSC without taking the courses. Individuals generally only need to meet the safety requirements once.

Exception: If a court has prohibited an individual from possessing firearms, the individual must wait until the prohibition order has expired, then take the course and pass the written and practical tests before applying for a PAL, even if the individual had met the safety-training requirements in the past.

Requirements for a Minor’s Licence

As a general rule, minors seeking a licence to possess non-restricted firearms must take the CFSC and pass the tests.

Information

For more information, contact us by one of the following methods:

telephone: 1 800 731-4000 (toll-free)

web site: www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca

e-mail: cfc-cafc@cfc-cafc.gc.ca

This fact sheet is intended to provide general information only. For legal references, please refer to the Firearms Act and its regulations.

Provincial, territorial and municipal laws, regulations and policies may also apply.

Le présent feuillet d’information est également disponible en français.

Revised April 2005