Canada bans more types of firearms and proposes donating guns to Ukraine

OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada said Thursday it is outlawing another 324 firearm varieties — guns the public safety minister said belong on the battlefield, not in the hands of hunters or sport shooters.

Ottawa also said it is working with the government of Ukraine to see how the guns can be donated to support the fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The move follows the May 2020 ban of 1,500 makes and models of firearms, a number that grew to more than 2,000 by November of this year as new variants were identified.

The latest restriction, announced Thursday by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, follows expressions of concern from gun-control advocates that many assault-style firearms were not included in the 2020 ban.

“This means these firearms can no longer be used,” LeBlanc said.

Defense Minister Bill Blair said Canada approached Ukrainian authorities, who expressed interest in some of the guns.

“Every bit of assistance we can offer to the Ukrainians is one step toward their victory,” Blair said.

The federal government says it is working with provinces, territories and police on a planned buyback of prohibited weapons from individual owners.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada, but the newly announced measures come on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the École Polytechnique in Montreal shooting, where a gunman killed 14 women before killing himself. The Ruger Mini-14 used by the gunman, Marc Lepine, was among the weapons included in the 2020 ban.

Nathalie Provost, a survivor who was wounded in the attack, said Thursday she was targeted for being a woman studying engineering.

“These are just killing weapons, war weapons, military weapons, so I'm proud we are doing something,” Provost said.

Canada has had far fewer mass shootings than the U.S. in part because of a lack of easy access to guns, though the U.S. population also is far larger than Canada’s. Officials have acknowledged guns smuggled into Canada illegally are often used by criminals.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called the announcement a “stunt” by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government that attacks “licensed & law-abiding hunters and sport shooters."