The Liberal government in Canada dropped the ban hammer on almost 200 firearm models by name last week, bringing a total of more than 2,500 models outlawed since 2020.

Rachel Bendayan, Canada's "Minister of Official Languages and Associate Minister of Public Safety," announced the expansion last Friday, with an amnesty order in place for these newly prohibited firearms until March 1, 2026. Denying any sporting or collectible purpose for such guns, Bendayan flatly remarked "The firearms prohibited today are semi-automatic weapons with rapid-fire capacity, designed to kill the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time."

The banned models include several historic semi-auto rifles such as the M-1 Carbine in all its forms and the Tokarev SVT, the latter a popular import from Eastern Europe in recent years. The initial ban on over 1,500 guns was announced in 2020 and has been subsequently expanded in several rounds. Only a handful of semi-auto centerfire rifles capable of holding more than five cartridges remain on the consumer market in Canada for now, primarily the M1 Garand and the SKS.

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Although those with a valid Possession and Acquisition License, or PAL, who own the newly banned firearms can continue to keep them until the end of the amnesty period, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police warns that "Effective immediately, the newly prohibited firearms can no longer be legally used, sold, imported, or transferred to another individual, and can only be transported as provided in the Amnesty Order."

Not all the provinces are happy with the move. 

"This continued targeting of lawful firearms owners does not stop criminal acts involving firearms," said Saskatchewan's premier, Scott Moe. "The federal government should be focusing on addressing gang activity, the illegal use of firearms, and the smuggling of firearms into Canada."

In just the past five years, Prime Minister Trudeau's Liberal government has banned almost all magazine-fed semi-auto rifles and shotguns from legal ownership in Canada, as well as freezing the sale and purchase of handguns.

While Trudeau is set to be replaced as leader of the Liberals and Prime Minister by the incoming – and avowedly anti-gun – Mark Carney, and Conservatives are heavily favored to win the most seats in Parliament later this year, it remains to be seen if they or the Liberals will control the majority coalition government formed after the upcoming election.

Banner image: M-1 Carbine at rest. (Photo: Paul Peterson/Guns.com)