Question Period Note: Impact of Bill C-21 on Replica Airguns

Proposed Bill C-21 includes provisions to prohibit mid-velocity replica airguns.

• Replica airguns look like real firearms and their use in crime is growing. In 2020, airguns were the second-most frequently used firearm in crime.

• Replicas are indistinguishable from real firearms. This complicates police work and can lead to tragic outcomes.

• That’s why our Government is proposing to prohibit the sale, transfer, import and export of these replica airguns.

• Manufacturers would need to adapt and start making airguns that do not resemble closely regulated firearms.

• Current airgun owners could continue using airguns they own.

• We will work with industry and law enforcement to develop appropriate ways to make airguns look different than real firearms.

• Our Government will continue to support the safe recreational use of airguns that do not look like real firearms. 

The proposed amendment to the Criminal Code would address a gap with respect to “replica firearms.” The term “replica firearm” is defined in section 84 of the Criminal Code in general terms as anything that exactly (or with near precision) resembles a firearm, but is not itself a firearm. Replica firearms are included in the definition of “prohibited device” in section 84. Replica firearms are prohibited for the purposes of importation, exportation, sale or transfer. The policy rationale for these prohibitions is based on public safety grounds. These devices are indistinguishable from conventional regulated firearms and can be used to commit criminal offences. It is not an offence under the Criminal Code to possess or use a replica firearm.

Airsoft, bb, pellet or airguns that resemble a regulated firearm and are below the velocity and power necessary to cause serious bodily harm (e.g., 366fps for airsoft, 246 for BB and 2.71 joules for paintball) are already “replica firearms” and cannot be transferred, imported or sold in Canada. Airsoft, bb, pellet, paintball or airguns that fire at a muzzle velocity above 500 fps and with a muzzle energy greater than 5.7 joules are considered regulated firearms (i.e., require a firearms licence) under the Firearms Act. However, a legislative gap exists in the Criminal Code for those devices that look like a regulated firearm and are powerful enough to cause serious bodily injury, but fall below the muzzle velocity or energy to be considered a regulated firearm. Currently, these mid-velocity devices are unregulated.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have been calling on the Government to implement a measure that captures these ‘mid-power’ devices as a direct result of their risk for criminal use and diversion as well as the risk to the safety of individuals in the event one of these devices are present necessitating police involvement. There have already been a number of cases of criminal use of these devices evidenced by police seizures. They have also resulted in the death of several individuals who were publicly in possession of a replica where the situation ended in a police-involved shooting due to inability of police to determine if the device was a real firearm or not.

In response to these risks, Bill C-21 proposes to close this gap by expanding the Criminal Code definition to include mid-power devices that resemble with near precision a regulated firearm be also considered “prohibited devices” for the purposes of importation, exportation, transfer and sale. As with replica firearms, possession of such prohibited devices would not be a criminal offence. The effect of the amendment would be to close the market for this category of unregulated firearms and no more could be imported into or sold in Canada once the provision is in force.

Bill C-21 also proposes to include in the definition of replica firearm and the new deeming provision language that clarifies that a “replica” or a “deemed prohibited device” must replicate a conventional regulated firearm (as opposed to an unregulated firearm such as an airgun).

Bill C-21 Reaction

Following the tabling of this provision under the former Bill C-21 in February 2021, there was an outcry from Airsoft (a specific type of airgun specifically designed to resemble a regulated firearm) manufacturers and domestic businesses claiming that the proposed change would destroy this activity in Canada. Estimates by national airgun organizations indicate Airsoft alone has a following of approximately 35,000 players and 260 Canadian businesses that depend on these devices for their source of income and represent an estimated $100M per year domestic industry.

Shortly after the Bill was tabled, Public Safety was engaged by a foreign industry leading manufacturer (Cybergun) to consult on the implications of the provision on their business in Canada and identify potential solutions to allow them to come into compliance with the design of airguns which they manufacture and sell to our domestic market.

A similar negative response was anticipated from individuals and businesses engaged in Airsoft as well as the manufacturing industry to the re-introduced provisions in Bill C-21 in May 2022. However, given that the national handgun freeze dominated the media dialogue, the response to these re-introduced provisions was more muted.

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