Machine guns in canada

[sdh1911]

Are collectors allowed to own active machine guns, heavy or light in Canada? In my home state of New Jersey this is very forbidden, even dewats are enough to get you in front of the judge. In PA. which is 25 minutes from where I'm sitting you can own them with the proper paper trail and a $300.00 tax stamp. I'd like to move there but the drive to work would kill me. Traffic in this area is brutal and the money in PA. would kill my collecting budget. 15 years to retirement and I'll be making that move-SDH

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Craig67]

I'm sure the real experts will chime in below me but the short story is no.

There are people who owned full-auto's before 1979 who are grandfathered and may keep them and aquire more. These firearms also cannot be taken to the range anymore.

Craig

[Claven2]

Some privileged individuals are "grandfathered" here and can own them live full-auto. Others have them "converted" to semi-automatic.

Someone new to the sport cn only get semi-auto that was never full-auto except for the VZ58 which is a special case.

Yes... our laws get confusing.

[stencollector]

The only way a guy new to the game can get them now (here in Canada) is very costly and time consuming. You can still get them for business purposes by getting the prohibited status on a business liscence, for things like sales to museums, movie rentals, and sales to the government.
It is a crime that after grandfathering these guns for the last 30 years (15 or so for the converted autos) that the government changes it's regulations, without public consultation, to not allow the guns to go to the range anymore. There were no incidents of legal owners causing any kind of problems in these time periods that I am aware of, although some of the guns did get stolen and mis-used.
I guess the full auto/C/A guys were not dying off fast enough for the government. Last I heard, there were still just over 300 grandfathered FA owners in Canada. The liberal government (not the current ruling party, but will eventually get back in some day) has made it part of their party platform to remove these guns, along with all semi automatic firearms, from Canadian society.

I was involved in the last big full auto shoot we had here in Manitoba back in 98 and it was a blast.

[touhy]

remove these guns, along with all semi automatic firearms, from Canadian society.

here in california semiautos are called 'assault guns.' because we all know the vast majority of crimes are commited by these assault weapons. by banning them, crime will drop tremendously as all criminals with then become law abiding citizens, get jobs, and we californians can all sing kumbaya by the fireplace.

[sdh1911]

Yes, I feel your pain, I think they wrote the law here in NJ as a test run, then imported it to the sunshine state, truly sorry we couldn't stop it here-SDH

[stencollector]

Are collectors allowed to own active machine guns, heavy or light in Canada? In my home state of New Jersey this is very forbidden, even dewats are enough to get you in front of the judge. In PA. which is 25 minutes from where I'm sitting you can own them with the proper paper trail and a $300.00 tax stamp. I'd like to move there but the drive to work would kill me. Traffic in this area is brutal and the money in PA. would kill my collecting budget. 15 years to retirement and I'll be making that move-SDH

While we are somewhat restricted (prohibited) on may of the full autos, and dangerous looking semi autos, we still have unfetterred access to what you guys call "destructive devices". Howitzers, tanks, mortars, and anything else over 50 cal (PTRD, PTRS, Boyes, Lahti 20mm, ) are all fairgame if you can afford to feed them. We do have restrictions on some of the HE ammo for the larger stuff, mind you, but non explosive solid shot are acceptable.

I own or have owned PTRS, PTRD, 55 Boyes, 2" british mortar, and a 76mm sherman gun and mantlet. The mortar is a hoot to fire...so much fun it just doesn't seem legal. Never did get around to firing the 76mm.

[Claven2]

And as I mentioned... we can own this for some inexplicable reason, while most other converted autos are banned for the average user

[sdh1911]

Perhaps I should get better acquainted with the cold, hum.-SDH

[36 hamon]

I hope to one day get a chance to shoot my Vickers or my Stg44 just once before I croak .I never did shoot the C2 or C1 sterling before I sold them I will always regret that .my Cz 858 is a blast to shoot but as mentioned it's only a matter of time before the libreals get back into office and then the CZeds will be toast as well as all other semis .I wish I could win the big one and get my guns to a gun friendly country where your not treated like a criminal for you taste in hobbies .heavy sigh !!!!!