What to do with firearms you no longer want

By Travis Bader, founder of Silvercore Outdoors. Handling firearm disposal for owners, families and estates for more than twenty years.

If there are firearms in the house you no longer want, there are five lawful ways to part with them in Canada. You can sell or give them to an individual who is legally able to receive them. You can transfer them to a licensed business or a museum. You can export them. You can have them permanently deactivated. Or you can surrender them to police for destruction. Which of the five are actually open to you comes down to one thing, and it is not condition or what you paid. It is what class each firearm is.

Nothing has to happen today. Leave them stored where they are, unloaded and locked, and sort out the class and the paperwork first. The most common way people turn an administrative problem into a real one is by putting a firearm in the truck and driving it somewhere before they have the answer.

What are my options for getting rid of a firearm in Canada?

Five, and they apply whether the owner is alive, has stopped shooting, or has died and left a safe full of firearms nobody in the family wants.

• Sell or give the firearm to an individual who is lawfully able to receive it.
• Transfer it to a licensed business or a museum, by outright sale, on consignment, or as a donation.
• Export it to a buyer in a country that allows it.
• Have it permanently deactivated so it is no longer a firearm in law.
• Surrender it to police for destruction.

Surrender is always available, for every class, and it pays nothing. The other four preserve some value, and every one of them costs you something in time, paperwork or money. The rest of this page is about that trade.

Why does the class of the firearm decide everything?

Because the transfer rules in Canada are written class by class, not firearm by firearm. Two guns sitting side by side in the same safe can have completely different options.

• Non-restricted firearms, generally rifles and shotguns, can be sold or given to any individual who holds a valid PAL. No registration certificate is involved. This is the widest market and by far the easiest sale.
• Restricted firearms can go to an individual who holds a valid RPAL, and a registration certificate is issued as part of the transfer. That is an extra step and a smaller pool of buyers, but it is a normal transaction.
• Handguns are the exception inside that exception, and most people are working from an out of date understanding of them. See the section below.
• Prohibited firearms are narrower again, and grandfathered handguns are their own case. Our post on 12-6 prohibited firearms covers that class in detail. The Canadian Firearms Program is involved in every prohibited transfer, and we can handle that step with you.

Do not assume the class. Some firearms that look like ordinary rifles are restricted or prohibited, and some were reclassified years after the owner bought them. If you are not certain, have it verified before you promise it to anybody.

Can I still sell a handgun to another person?

Almost certainly not, and this catches people who have held a restricted licence for decades. A valid RPAL and a club membership are not enough, because the barrier is not the buyer's licence. It is the registration certificate that would have to be issued in the buyer's name.

The Firearms Act sets this out in three connected places. Section 12.2 says a registration certificate for a handgun must not be issued to an individual. Section 23.2(1)(d.1) permits a handgun transfer to an individual only where that individual is referred to in section 97.1, and paragraph (e) of the same section requires a new registration certificate to be issued. Section 97.1 is a closed list of two: a person who holds an authorization to carry in respect of a handgun, and a person who meets prescribed criteria and provides, once a year, a letter from a provincial or national sport shooting governing body confirming that they train, compete or coach in a handgun discipline governed by the International Olympic Committee or the International Paralympic Committee, and that the handgun is necessary for it.

That is the whole list. If you are not on it, the four remaining routes are a licensed business or museum, export, deactivation, and surrender. A gift is a transfer, so giving it away does not sidestep any of this.

What will I actually get for it?

This is the question nobody answers straight, so here it is route by route. No dollar figures, because the number depends entirely on what you have, but the shape of each deal is consistent and you can plan around it.

Private sale or gift to an individual

The best price available to you, because there is no middleman taking a margin. You net full private market value less your own time. What it costs you is the search. You have to find a buyer with the right licence, verify that licence, and run the transfer, and for a restricted firearm you wait on the registration certificate. Practical for non-restricted rifles and shotguns, workable for restricted long guns, effectively closed for handguns.

Outright purchase by a licensed business

You get a wholesale figure, below what a private buyer would pay, because the business is taking on the resale risk, the storage and the paperwork. What you are buying with that discount is certainty and speed. One conversation, one transfer, money now, done. For an executor trying to close an estate, or an owner who simply wants the safe empty, that is often worth more than the difference.

Consignment through a licensed business

The business sells on your behalf and takes a percentage. You net more than an outright sale would give you, but only if and when it sells, and nothing until it does. This is the right route for a desirable or higher value firearm and the wrong route for a tired pump shotgun. Ask three things in writing before you hand anything over: what the commission is, how long the firearm will be listed, and what happens if it does not sell.

Donation to a licensed business

You receive no payment, it costs you nothing, and the paperwork is ours. Be clear about what it is: a firearms business is not a charity, so there is no tax receipt. Financially it is the same as surrender. The difference is where the firearm ends up. Surrendered, it is destroyed. Donated to Silvercore, it goes into our training program and becomes the firearm a new shooter learns on. For a lot of owners, that is the outcome they actually wanted.

Export

Can realise genuine value on something collectible, or on a firearm with a market outside Canada that it does not have here. It is also the slowest and most administrative route open to you. It requires an export permit through Global Affairs Canada, a lawful importer at the other end, and a carrier willing to handle it, and you must satisfy the laws of the receiving country as well as ours. Costs are permit fees, brokerage, shipping and months of your attention. Rarely worth it for one common firearm, occasionally worth it for a rare one.

Deactivation

You pay money and you keep an object instead of a firearm. The work has to be done to the current federal deactivation standard by a business authorized to perform deactivations, and the final call on whether something is deactivated rests with the Registrar. Understand what you are buying. The value as a firearm is gone permanently, and so is the option to change your mind. This is the route for a service pistol, a presentation piece, something with a name engraved on it, where the reason for keeping it has nothing to do with shooting it.

Surrender to police for destruction

Free, fast, final, and it pays nothing. It is available for every class, it needs no buyer and no permit, and it closes the file in an afternoon. For a low value firearm that nobody wants, it is often the sensible answer and there is no shame in it. Two practical points. Call the detachment first, tell them what you are bringing and when, so that an officer who knows the process is there to receive it. Do not turn up unannounced with a firearm in hand.

The one rule that ties all seven together: if value matters to you or to the estate, decide before anything moves. Surrender and deactivation have no route back.

Do I get paid for handing firearms in to the police?

No. Surrendering a firearm for destruction carries no compensation, and there is no mechanism to claim any afterward.

People expect otherwise because they have heard about the federal compensation program. That is a separate program with its own eligibility list, its own process and its own deadlines, and it does not apply to firearms generally. Handing a rifle across the counter at a detachment is a disposal, not a claim. Nobody is going to write you a cheque later.

What if the owner has died?

The same five routes apply, but an estate has an extra layer of paperwork before any of them opens. The person acting for the estate completes RCMP form 6016e, the declaration of authority to act on behalf of an estate, which tells the Canadian Firearms Program who is entitled to make decisions about these firearms. Until that is in place, nothing should move.

What happens to a handgun when the owner dies covers the estate case properly, including what an executor can and cannot do, how long a reasonable period actually is, and why a brother with an RPAL still cannot receive the revolver.

What about ammunition, magazines and the rest of it?

Ammunition is not a firearm and is not registered, but it is not household waste either. It does not go in the bin, it does not go in the recycling, and it does not get buried in the yard. A licensed business or your local police detachment will take it. Tell them roughly what you have and how much before you arrive, particularly if there is a large quantity, anything old and unstable, or anything you cannot identify.

Magazines are worth a separate look, because some are prohibited devices in their own right and they do not stop being one just because the firearm has gone. Have them assessed rather than assumed. Cases, cleaning kits, optics, slings and reloading gear are ordinary property and can be sold, given away or thrown out like anything else.

What should I do first?

1. Leave the firearms where they are, unloaded and locked to the standard that applies to their class. Do not move them to show anyone, do not take them to a shop, and do not hand them to a friend who offers to look after them.
2. Write down what is actually there. Make, model, calibre, barrel length, serial number, and whether each one is a rifle, a shotgun or a handgun.
3. Find the licence and, for anything restricted or prohibited, the registration certificates. If the owner has died, start form 6016e.
4. Decide honestly whether you want maximum value or minimum hassle. They pull in opposite directions and choosing one makes every following decision easier.
5. Get the route confirmed in writing before anything moves, from the Canadian Firearms Program or from the business you are dealing with. Keep every reference number.

How Silvercore handles it

Silvercore is a licensed firearms business, authorized by the Chief Firearms Officer of British Columbia to take in every class of firearm, including prohibited firearms and grandfathered handguns. Our premises are at Unit 115, 7198 Vantage Way, Delta, British Columbia V4G 1K7, off Highway 17A near the Tsawwassen ferry corridor, with parking at the door.

We have handled firearm disposal for more than twenty years, for owners who finished with the sport, for families clearing out a house, and for estates. What we do is straightforward. You describe what you have. We tell you in writing which of the five routes are open for those specific firearms, including the ones we are not part of. If an outright purchase or consignment through us makes sense, we say so and quote it. If surrender to police is the sensible answer for what you are holding, we say that too, and you have lost nothing by asking.

Three things worth knowing before you call, because they open more doors than people expect:

• Distance is not a barrier. Firearm transport is federally regulated, so you can ship firearms to us lawfully from anywhere in Canada. Tell us what you have and we will give you the exact shipping instruction for that class. In British Columbia we can also arrange to collect.
• Prohibited firearms, including grandfathered handguns, are not a dead end. We are licensed to take them in, by purchase or on consignment, and to hold them for storage, modification, testing and instruction. We take possession, we contact the Canadian Firearms Program, and we handle the paperwork that class requires, so you are not left working it out on your own.
• Donated firearms are put to use. Many become the rifles and shotguns new shooters learn on in a Silvercore course. Surrender ends with the firearm destroyed. Donation ends with it teaching the next person to handle one safely. If you would rather it went that way, tell us and we will make it simple.

Whatever route you take, you get written confirmation for your records: the firearm identified by serial number, the date, and where it went. Keep that piece of paper. It answers any question about the firearm that comes up later.

Continue on the Silvercore Path

• What happens to a handgun when the owner dies, if you are settling an estate rather than clearing your own safe.
• Non-restricted versus restricted firearms in Canada, if you are not certain what class something in the safe belongs to.
• What to do with your 12-6 prohibited firearms, for grandfathered prohibited handguns specifically.
• The complete ban list of prohibited firearms in Canada, if you suspect something in the safe was reclassified after it was bought.
• The Silvercore Club, if someone in the family is keeping firearms rather than parting with them and wants third party liability coverage and somewhere to ask questions.

Talk to someone

If you are holding firearms you did not ask for and do not want, call us, from anywhere in Canada. There is no charge to find out what your options are, and no obligation to send anything our way once you know.

Email info@silvercore.ca or call the Delta office at 604-940-7785. Tell us what you have, what class it is if you know, and where it is. Leave it where it is until we have spoken.

Travis Bader, Silvercore Outdoors