If you walk into a Canadian gun shop today looking for a Glock, you’re going to have a very short, very awkward conversation. The clerk isn’t just being grumpy. They literally cannot sell it to you.
It's weird. You’ll see people at the local range punching holes in paper with 9mms, yet the shelves are effectively empty for the average Joe. This has led to a massive amount of confusion. Is it a ban? Is it a freeze? Are they just "sorta" illegal? Honestly, the answer depends entirely on when you bought your gun and what you do for a living.
Are Pistols Legal in Canada? The Current Reality
Basically, as of early 2026, the answer is: Yes, they are legal to possess, but no, you almost certainly cannot buy a new one. The "National Handgun Freeze" is the culprit here. It wasn't a door-to-door confiscation. Instead, the government effectively choked off the supply. On October 21, 2022, they stopped the sale, purchase, and transfer of handguns for nearly everyone. Then, Bill C-21 came along and baked that into the law permanently in late 2023.
If you already owned a registered pistol before that 2022 cutoff, you’re "grandfathered" in. You can still take it to the range. You can still buy ammo. You just can’t sell it to your buddy, and you can't buy a second one to keep it company. When you pass away, that gun can't even be willed to your kids as a functioning firearm anymore; it generally has to be deactivated or surrendered.
Who is actually allowed to buy them?
The law carved out a few tiny islands of legality. If you don't fit into these very specific buckets, you're out of luck:
- Elite Sport Shooters: We aren't talking about the guy who goes to the range once a month. To qualify, you have to be training or competing in an Olympic or Paralympic discipline. You need a letter from your provincial or national governing body to prove it.
- Lawful Professions: Armoured car guards or people working in extreme wilderness (trappers, for instance) can still get authorizations.
- Protection of Life: This is the rarest of the rare. It’s for people whose lives are in imminent danger and where police protection is deemed insufficient.
The RPAL and the Restricted Class
Even before the freeze, Canada didn't treat pistols like regular rifles. Handguns are classified as Restricted. To even look at one back in the day, you needed a Restricted Possession and Acquisition Licence (RPAL).
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Getting an RPAL involves a specific safety course (the CRFSC), a background check that digs into your mental health and history of domestic issues, and a waiting period that feels like an eternity.
What makes a pistol "Prohibited"?
Not all handguns were ever "just" restricted. Some have been flat-out Prohibited since the 90s. This includes:
- Pistols with a barrel length of 105mm (about 4.1 inches) or less.
- Handguns chambered in .25 or .32 calibre.
Why? The logic was that these were "Saturday Night Specials"—small, concealable guns that the government didn't want on the streets. If you owned one of these before the 1995 ban, you might still have a special 12(6) endorsement on your licence. If not, you’re never getting one.
The 2026 Amnesty and Buybacks
Right now, the big talk in the Canadian firearms community is the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program. While this mostly focuses on the 1,500+ models of "assault-style" rifles banned in 2020, it looms over the handgun conversation too.
The amnesty period for those banned rifles is currently set to expire on October 30, 2026. This is a hard deadline. If you have a banned firearm sitting in your safe, you have to participate in the buyback or have it deactivated by then. While handguns aren't part of this specific "buyback" yet—since they were "frozen" rather than "prohibited" for existing owners—many owners are nervous that the other shoe is about to drop.
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New Rules for Parts and Ammo
It's not just the guns themselves. Since September 2024, the government tightened the screws on parts. You now need a valid firearms licence just to buy a handgun slide or a barrel. You even need it for magazines and ammunition. They’re basically trying to stop people from building "ghost guns" using 3D printers or smuggled parts.
Myths vs. Facts
You’ll hear a lot of noise online about what’s allowed. Let’s clear some of it up.
Myth: I can buy a pistol from the US and bring it over.
Nope. The freeze applies to imports too. Unless you’re one of those exempt elite athletes or a licensed business, customs will seize that Glock 17 faster than you can say "sorry."
Myth: I can use my pistol for self-defense.
In Canada, you cannot get a permit to carry a handgun for self-defense in daily life. Your Authorization to Transport (ATT) usually only allows you to go from your house to an approved range and back. The gun must be trigger-locked, in a locked hard-sided case, and unloaded.
Myth: All semi-autos are now illegal.
Not quite. While pistols are frozen, many semi-auto rifles and shotguns are still "Non-Restricted." You can take a semi-auto Benelli shotgun into the woods for birds. But if it’s a handgun, it’s range-use only, and the "freeze" means no new owners.
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Navigating the Future
If you're a current owner, your priority is compliance. The "Yellow Flag" laws introduced in 2025 mean a Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) can temporarily suspend your licence if they have "reasonable grounds" to suspect you're no longer eligible. This could be due to a mental health crisis or a report of domestic friction.
Actionable Steps for Owners and Enthusiasts:
- Check Your Expiry: Ensure your RPAL is nowhere near expiry. With the new "Red Flag" and "Yellow Flag" laws, any lapse in licensing makes you an unauthorized possessor of a restricted firearm, which is a criminal offence.
- Verify Your Inventory: Use the RCMP's Firearm Reference Table (FRT) or the Public Safety Canada website to ensure none of your current collection has been reclassified into the "Prohibited" list during the December 2024 or 2025 updates.
- Sport Shooting Status: If you are a high-level competitor, ensure your paperwork from your sport's governing body is updated annually. The CFOs are looking for any reason to deny a transfer or renewal.
- Storage Compliance: Since you can't replace these guns, ensure your safe and trigger locks meet the specific "Restricted" storage requirements (locked room or a sturdy, locked container/safe). A simple theft because of a cheap lock could lead to your licence being revoked permanently under the newer, stricter April 2025 revocation guidelines.
The landscape for pistols in Canada is essentially a "holding pattern." Those who have them, keep them—for now. Everyone else is on the outside looking in. Stay informed on the October 2026 amnesty deadline, as any changes to the buyback program could signal what's next for the restricted category.
Reference Sources:
- Public Safety Canada (Bill C-21 Updates)
- RCMP Canadian Firearms Program (Handgun Freeze Regulations)
- Canada Gazette (Orders in Council regarding prohibited models)
- Criminal Code of Canada (Section 84-117)