Parliamentary Committee Notes: Ghost Guns and Illegal Manufacturing in Canada
Date: August 2023
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: CPB
Proposed Response:
- Our Government remains committed to protecting Canadians from gun violence.
- Illicit manufacturing of firearms is a growing public safety risk, particularly given trends in the use of 3D printers and the importation and distribution of firearm parts.
- As we work to reduce firearm smuggling and trafficking, criminals are turning to illegally manufactured firearms, or “ghost guns”.
- “Ghost guns” are unmarked and untraceable, often illegally manufactured or assembled from parts. They either do not have serial numbers or other markings, or their serial number or other markings have been obliterated, thereby preventing them from being traced in a conventional manner.
- It is already illegal to manufacture or possess any firearm — including a 3D-printed firearm — without the appropriate business licence issued by a Chief Firearms Officer.
- Through Bill C-21, our Government is proposing to increase penalties for gun crimes, including increasing the maximum penalty for the illegal manufacture or possession of a firearm from 10 to 14 years imprisonment.
- Bill C-21 would also define any unlawfully manufactured firearm as a prohibited firearm.
- Bill C-21 also proposes to require a valid firearms licence in order to import and transfer firearms parts, which would be defined in the Criminal Code to mean any firearm barrel or slide of a handgun. These firearm parts are integral to the function of the firearm and are quite difficult to replace and/or manufacture using 3D printing.
- Furthermore, Bill C-21 would also create offences for the possession or distribution of blueprints and other computer data pertaining to firearms or prohibited devices for the purpose of manufacturing or trafficking.
- With these new measures, our Government is taking action to address this growing public safety risk, and respond directly to recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in their recent report entitled: “A Path Forward: Reducing Gun and Gang Violence in Canada.”
- Most recently, at the 2023 meeting of the Cross Border Crime Forum in Ottawa, Canada and the United States committed to advancing collaborative work related to stemming the proliferation of privately manufactured firearms (“ghost guns”) and strengthen cooperation with states and provinces, as well as Indigenous and tribal partners.
- We will continue to monitor this trend and examine ways in which we can curb illegal manufacturing in order to protect Canadians from gun violence.
Background:
In Canada, all regulated firearms, regardless of how they are manufactured, are classified as non-restricted, restricted, or prohibited according to criteria set out in subsection 84(1) of the Criminal Code.
It is a criminal offence under section 99 of the Criminal Code (weapons trafficking) for any person to manufacture “a prohibited firearm, a restricted firearm, a non-restricted firearm, a prohibited weapon, a restricted weapon, a prohibited device, any ammunition or any prohibited ammunition knowing that the person is not authorized to do so under the Firearms Act or any other Act of Parliament or any regulations made under any Act of Parliament”.
It is also illegal to possess a firearm without the appropriate licence and applicable registration certificate, if required. Firearms licencing is an important mechanism for ensuring rigorous screening of potential gun owners. The Firearms Act stipulates that individuals in possession of firearms must have a Possession and Acquisition Licence.
The Firearms Act requires that businesses must be licenced to manufacture ammunition, firearms, restricted or prohibited weapons, or prohibited devices. A business licence is valid only for the activities specified on the licence.
Regardless of manufacturing method, a business licence is required to manufacture a firearm with a muzzle velocity above 152.4 m per second and with a muzzle energy above 5.7 Joules. These firearms are subject to the Firearms Act, associated offences in the Criminal Code and their respective regulations.
“Ghost Gun” is a general term used to describe a firearm that is anonymous as to its origins and therefore untraceable. More specifically, it is a firearm that is manufactured or assembled from components without a serial number or other markings that would uniquely identify it, thereby preventing it from being traced in a conventional manner. The use of some manufacturing techniques can also make it difficult to detect the firearm by conventional x-ray or metal detector systems.
The use of some manufacturing techniques, including 3D printing using plastic, metal or epoxy resins, can also make it difficult to detect the firearm by conventional x-ray or metal detector systems. Electronic 3D design files for firearm components and receivers are available to download, for free, from numerous open source websites.
Ghost guns can include 3D-printed firearms, converted airsoft guns, as well as guns manufactured from 80% receivers, precision casting, gun kits or assorted components that may be readily available in households, among others. Currently, privately manufactured frames and receivers (including those that are 3D-printed) can be assembled into fully functional firearms by using commercially manufactured, but unregulated, parts (e.g., barrels and handgun slides). Barrels are some of the hardest parts of a firearm to make privately, and slides are common parts for handguns.
The true scope of ghost guns in Canada is unknown, as gaps in the recording of cases exist at the border and domestically. However, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is encountering an increasing number of cases of uncontrolled firearm parts at the border, which have been linked to illicit privately made firearms production in Canada, including 3D-printed illicit firearms. For example, in August 2022, the CBSA announced two significant seizures of ghost guns in the B.C. Interior, following interceptions at international mail centres. These resulted in the seizure of a 3D-printing machine that was observed to be in the process of printing a receiver for a handgun, six handgun receivers with no serial number, and a loaded 9mm handgun with no serial number, among other items. Furthermore, in February 2022, the CBSA announced the results of an investigation into 3D-printed firearms manufacturing, following an interception of undeclared firearm components from an International Mail Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. This resulted in in the seizure of two 3D-printed handguns and a 3D-printer with filament, among other items. More recently, in June 2023, law enforcement across Canada, including criminal investigators from the CBSA, took part in a nationwide operation to crack down on the manufacturing and trafficking of privately made firearms. As part of this operation, 46 search warrants were executed in 8 provinces (British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), keeping guns off Canadian streets and out of criminal hands. In total, 45 individuals were arrested and a number of illicit items were seized, including approximately 440 firearms (traditional and 3D) and 52 3D printers.
Canada and the U.S. continue to work together through joint ministerial-level initiatives such as the Cross Border Crime Forum, and at the agency and operational level the Cross Border Firearms Task Force, to cooperate and improve collaboration to prevent illegal flow of firearms which in 2022-2023 have enabled several major successful law enforcement actions from both sides of the border. In 2022-2023 two memoranda were signed between agencies to that effect: the Memorandum of Understanding between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), signed in March 2023; and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), signed in November 2022.
Contacts:
Prepared by: [REDACTED], Policy Advisor, Firearms Policy Division, [REDACTED]
Approved by: Talal Dakalbab, Assistant Deputy Minister, Crime Prevention Branch, 613-852-1167
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