Nearly half of the “assault-style” firearms the federal government estimates were held by individual owners were declared under Ottawa’s compensation program, according to records tabled in the House of Commons.
“The estimated number of firearms affected by the prohibitions held by both businesses and individuals prior to the start of the program is approximately 180,000,” cabinet wrote in an Inquiry of Ministry. “This includes an estimated 166,555 held by individuals.”
As of June 9, owners had declared 68,793 firearms under the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program — about 41 per cent of the government’s estimated individual inventory.
Of those, 67,512 were slated for destruction and compensation and 1,281 for deactivation, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
The figures count firearms, not owners, and do not mean all 68,793 had been surrendered. Collection continued after the declaration deadline.
When the March 31 deadline passed, Public Safety Canada reported 37,869 owners had declared more than 67,000 firearms. Previously opened cases continued to be processed afterward, pushing the total higher by June.
The figures were requested by Conservative MP Bob Zimmer, who asked how many individuals the government estimated possessed affected firearms and how many had indicated an intention to comply.
Ottawa has previously estimated between 125,000 and 175,000 prohibited firearms were held by individuals. Cabinet’s latest estimate of 166,555 falls within that range.
The compensation program is being implemented within an existing $742-million federal funding envelope. Ottawa allocated $248.6 million specifically to compensate businesses and individual owners.
As of June 8, businesses had claimed 74,073 firearms and received approximately $96.1 million in compensation.
The program stems from the Liberal government’s May 2020 order in council prohibiting more than 1,500 models and variants of what Ottawa calls “assault-style” firearms.
Additional prohibitions in December 2024 and March 2025 brought the total to more than 2,500 makes and models.
But the nationwide compensation program for individual owners did not open until January 19, 2026, nearly six years after the original prohibition. Owners were given until March 31 to submit declarations.
Meanwhile, the deadline for owners to comply with the prohibition has repeatedly been pushed back.
The original amnesty was set to expire April 30, 2022, before being extended several times, most recently as the Supreme Court of Canada considers a challenge to the 2020 regulations.
The Supreme Court agreed March 19 to hear the challenge, which questions whether cabinet had the Criminal Code authority to prohibit firearms previously legal for licensed owners.
A Federal Court judge rejected the original challenge in 2023.
“The debate on whether and how to reduce the risk posed by firearms has raged on for decades and will no doubt continue,” the judge wrote.
“The issue before this Court is a legal issue, whether the [cabinet] acted within its authority to make the regulations and made a reasonable decision to prescribe as prohibited the firearms that, in its opinion, are not reasonable for hunting and sporting purposes.”
Ottawa extended the amnesty until 90 days after the Supreme Court ruling, expected in 2027, without reopening the compensation program.
Ottawa said the compensation program remained scheduled to conclude by October 2026 and represents the only opportunity for affected owners to receive government compensation.
Participation in the compensation program was voluntary, but eventual compliance with the prohibition is not. Owners who did not participate will ultimately have to dispose of, export or permanently deactivate affected firearms before the amnesty expires if the prohibition remains in force.
The program has faced resistance from gun owners.
A 2023 Public Safety Canada study found firearms owners participating in government research frequently viewed the ban and buyback as wasteful because they believed it failed to target illegal firearms trafficking.
“Often the ban and the buyback program were seen as wasteful because the policy isn’t aimed at stopping illegal gun smuggling and sales,” researchers wrote.
“Most firearms owners did not see themselves or their peers as a major factor in gun crimes in Canada.”