# Prohibited Canadian Firearms
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 25, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320 "2005-09-25T07:57:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Argo84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argo84)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/1 "2005-09-25T07:57:14Z")
I was surfing around and managed to come upon a list of firearms which Canadians are prohibited from owning.
[http://www.canadianfirearms.com/info\_for-renseignement/factsheets/prohibited\_e.asp](http://www.canadianfirearms.com/info_for-renseignement/factsheets/prohibited_e.asp)
I found it curious that among the prohibited firearms are weapons that discharge .25 or .32 caliber ammunition. Does anyone have any idea why those calibers are prohibited? Why do the authorities consider them objectionable?
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/2 "2005-09-25T08:21:16Z")
_Possibly_ they consider those calibers to be part of the “Saturday Night Special” group of handguns, especially the .25.
But you’d have to get a Canuck who is fairly knowledgeable aboot the Canadian Gun Ban movement for a more definitive answer.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/3 "2005-09-25T12:52:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> automatics, including those that have been converted so that they can only fire one projectile when the trigger is squeezed;
Semi automatics are prohibited?
Or automatics that have be converted to semis. Very strange.
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### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/4 "2005-09-25T15:10:03Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> Semi automatics are prohibited?
>
> Or automatics that have be converted to semis. Very strange.
Only full autos that have been converted. Most semi-autos are perfectly legal.
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### Author:  [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/5 "2005-09-25T15:36:25Z")
I have a Browning 9mm that is legal. As for .25 and .32 **ExTank** is correct. It has to do with barrell length, less than 3 inches I believe. A friend of mine had a beautiful ivory handled Derringer in a hand carved box. He had all the necessary permits but when the new law came into effect he had to turn it over for destruction. Heartbreaking.
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### Author:  [@Argo84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argo84)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/6 "2005-09-25T15:58:19Z")
> [@deevee](#):
>
> I have a Browning 9mm that is legal. As for .25 and .32 **ExTank** is correct. It has to do with barrell length, less than 3 inches I believe. A friend of mine had a beautiful ivory handled Derringer in a hand carved box. He had all the necessary permits but when the new law came into effect he had to turn it over for destruction. Heartbreaking.
He actually DID turn it over to the authorities? I can’t imagine most Americans being willing to do that!
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### Author:  [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/7 "2005-09-25T16:56:01Z")
> [@Argo84](#):
>
> He actually DID turn it over to the authorities? I can’t imagine most Americans being willing to do that!
Neither can I, and that’s one of the fundamental differences between us and Americans. I’ve known plenty of Canadians who complied when the time came.
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### Author:  [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/8 "2005-09-25T20:42:08Z")
The wacky results of the recent firearms laws in Canada have turned the market for some firearms upside down.
Case in point: I’m going to purchase (in my role as a Federal Government Museum Curator!) a Thompson sub-machine gun, fully operational. The price is CDN $550. A fully de-activiated Thompson would run about US $700, and in the USA, an operating WW2 Thompson runs about $2,500.
Since so very few people in Canada can buy a fully auto weapon (basically police forces, government museums, and a relative handful of older collectors), the bottom of the market for these weapons dropped out. Dewats are still hot sellers, though.
Bought a WW2 Bren LMG two years ago, and had it converted to chamber and fire only blanks; we were firing it last night during a special after-dark lantern tour. Great flashes against the night sky, as we had placed the gun crew on a cliff-ledge. Very effective, and scared the pants off unsuspecting visitors!
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/9 "2005-09-25T20:46:54Z")
> [@Rodd Hill](#):
>
> Bought a WW2 Bren LMG two years ago, and had it converted to chamber and fire only blanks; we were firing it last night during a special after-dark lantern tour. Great flashes against the night sky, as we had placed the gun crew on a cliff-ledge. Very effective, and scared the pants off unsuspecting visitors!
[Museum Tour Guide]
“I _said_ STAY WITH THE TOUR GROUP!”
[/Museum Tour Guide]
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### Author:  [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/10 "2005-09-25T21:04:32Z")
> [@Argo84](#):
>
> He actually DID turn it over to the authorities? I can’t imagine most Americans being willing to do that!
I mock him about it mercilessly. He’s sorry he did and to this day I still don’t know what was going through his head. I would have bought it from him and refused to turn it over had I known. At least our streets are safer now that an historic .22 pistol has now been melted down. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/11 "2005-09-25T21:12:13Z")
A friend is an ex-pat Canadian emigrated to the US specifically because of the ever tightening gun laws. According to him each ban was justified by a particular feature or caliber being favored by criminals but of course it was never enough. He was unable to bring any of his collection which included some machine guns but has amassed a decent collection since moving to the US.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/12 "2005-09-25T23:19:01Z")
> [@Argo84](#):
>
> He actually DID turn it over to the authorities? I can’t imagine most Americans being willing to do that!
I agree.
I have yet to meet _one_ U.S. gun owner who said they would turn over their guns if they’re banned…
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### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prohibited-canadian-firearms/323320/13 "2005-09-26T01:22:08Z")
Well, there’s also an issue about how gun laws are made. At least here in the United States. Gun laws are made to appeal to whomever wants more gun laws. Now you’re a group of elected officials, and your only goal is to minimize the number of people you piss off whilst appealing to your constituents that want more gun laws. You look at the smallest, thinnest category of allowed guns with the minimal defense and hunting uses and ban those. Then your terms end, and new people come back and do the same. This way you don’t offend farmers or hunters as much because their guns are perfectly legal.
Maybe .25 was just a very unpopular caliber in Canada, and a bunch of officials felt like they had to ban something and banned the least popular one.