You are going through divorce and want firearms out of the picture.
You will be away for an extended period of time.
You are under a court order to not possess firearms for a period of time.
You are an heir to an estate and need to close the estate quickly.

The phone number for the Firearms Program (CFP) is 1 800 731 400. There are some things you may be able to do online, but calling is still the most universal way to handle any part of the processes I will go into below.

If you are going through a divorce or having a difficult time, we can remove the firearms from you and store them safely in our climate controlled vault. Once you are ready to have them back we will return them. The same applies if you are going to be away for an extended period. Some important considerations:
– Non-restricted firearms can be transferred for storage with a reference check via the CFP.
– Handguns should stay registered to you and come to us for storage under an ATT. You will need to ask the Firearms program/CFO for this. New handguns registration certificates are currently not being approved so it is important to keep them in your name and valid.
– Grandfathered prohibited firearms should be handled as handguns.
– Newly prohibited firearms with no grandfathering – at this time you can hold them under amnesty until Oct 30, 2026 and other than for surrender or destruction they can only be removed from your residence for export. We accept them for consignment and subsequent export.

If you are under a court order to not have any firearms we can accept your firearms for storage. Since you will not have a firearms license during this period, some things will be different.
– An important pre-condition is that you are allowed to transfer firearms rather than surrender them – you may need to petition for this based on the firearms representing a significant investment. If this is allowed the firearms can be transferred to us for consignment or storage or a mix of both.
– Most of the time you will have to reapply for a firearms license after this prohibition period. If/when approved we will be able to transfer the firearms back to you but only for the classes you will be approved for.
– With no license, your restricted/prohibited and handguns will have to be transferred out of your name, under current laws handguns and prohibited class will not be transferrable back to you. They can be sold for export or to exempt individuals and businesses, or parts excluding the frame can be returned to you once you have your license again.

If you are an heir to an estate. Note that an estate can hold any firearm that came to it under the operation of law for a reasonable period to settle an estate. Any firearm. Though the police takes a more strict interpretation of this… this means that the estate and the executor can hold the firearms for an undefined amount of time… but it means that the estate cannot be closed. If you find that you _do_ need to close the estate, we can accept any and all firearms for consignment or storage.
– Non-restricted firearms should be transferred to licensed heirs directly, but we can hold them until they acquire a license (e.g. they are not of age yet)
– Prohibited firearms and handguns cannot be transferred to heirs under the current legislation but we can hold them if there is a possibility down the line that the heirs may be able to possess them e.g. they emigrate, they obtain an exemption, legislation changes etc

You can end your storage at any time and transfer the firearms to a different holder if they have the appropriate license or ask us to sell your firearms for export or domestically.

Storage terms – we charge a one time processing fee based on the number of firearms we receive on a sliding scale, but for under 10 firearms we charge 50 CAD. We charge 120 CAD / year for storage for the entire collection no matter how big or small.

Feel free to contact us with any questions or situations not covered in the examples above with a public comment or via the form or via the contact info.

Contact Us for details

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• This only applies to non-antiques.
• Always confirm that what you want to send there is importable – the ATF in the US limits what can be imported quite harshly (imports@atf.gov) Most semi-automatic rifles and shotguns with any tactical features cannot be imported which means most prohibited rifles. Same for Chinese or Russian made guns or small handguns.
• Firearms imported for resale must be engraved with the name and address of the importer. The location of the engraving must be visible without disassembling the gun. Engraving decreases the value of the gun
• Firearms imported for personal use do not have to be engraved. So if you are also a US resident or have family or friends or even a buyer you found already you want to send your guns to, you can avoid this.
• For a personal type import any FFL can apply for a Form 6 permanent import on the end-user’s behalf
• For C&R eligible firearms a C&R license holder can apply himself.
• Once the form 6 is approved, you _yourself_ can apply for an export permit – this is free if you do it yourself (or we can help)
• If your counterpart wants to receive the firearms rather than have an employee of the FFL do it they should get a letter from the FFL authorizing them to act on their behalf.
• There are many different ways you can go through the actual export process. The paperwork part is the easiest, it’s the logistics that are complicated.
• Apply for and receive an ATT to a border crossing, transport there yourself and meet your counterpart. They will be submitting the import paperwork to US customs and paying the duties. then they transport to their FFL for final processing. This is the cheapest way.
• The firearms can be shipped air cargo to the nearest airport for the recipient. Same deal as above – customs will process the paperwork but there will be an additional cost for the flight and a terminal fee collected. Not all airlines accept firearms for shipping from individuals, but we can take care of that part.
• There’s also an option to ship to a broker who will clear and forward the rest of the way to the FFL with UPS but costs go up significantly – this only becomes worthwhile for larger collections with high value.
• If you do not care about the engraving on your firearms we can refer you to a different importer who will take care of the entire process for a single fee/percentage of value

• You may want to consider selling your firearms (especially if not admissible to the US) to a European dealer for a fixed payout
• You may want to consider selling your firearms to a Canadian business (ranges will buy handguns for rental use, others may buy something rare and collectible for their reference collections and museums). This is where you are likely to generate the highest payout if there is interest in your particular model as there would be no export or import expenses for both sides of the deal.Feel free to contact us with your questions!

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The law covers what makes a firearm Antique and specifies which calibers make a firearm NOT antique. Some interesting considerations for this:

– There is an explicitly defined list of no-go calibers, but can antique guns be rechambered and keep their Antique status? At this time – yes, giving us several potential scenarios.
1. A firearm that is antique – is in a caliber not on the no-go list rechambered to another caliber not on the no-go list: This firearm remains antique. (e.g. Colt 1873 that is originally in 41colt and is rechambered to 38special)
2. A firearm that is antique – is in a caliber not on the no-go list rechambered to another caliber on the no-go list: This firearm is not antique. (e.g. Mauser 1871 that is originally in 43mauser and is rechambered to 12ga)
3. A firearm that would be antique but is in caliber on the no-go list rechambered to another caliber not on the no-go list: There was a time when these would gain antique status according to the Firearms Lab and would get the Antique Status letter. (e.g. Colt 1873 that is originally in 45colt and is rechambered to 38special) This is no longer the case. One can be expected to have to prove that the firearm was in a caliber not on the no-go list originally.

In addition, under Canadian law the receiver of the firearm IS the firearm. So having an Antique receiver and not being in an exempt caliber are the two defining characteristics. Some interesting considerations for this:

1. All other parts except the receiver of an Antique firearm can be of new manufacture.
2. Barrel length is not a factor so an Antique handgun can have a short barrel and not be prohibited. One can install a newly manufactured barrel that is as long or as short as possible and still have the handgun retain Antique status.
3. Action type is not a factor for an Antique handgun. If one can add parts to a revolver frame to build a semi-automatic magazine fed handgun, it would still retain Antique status.

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