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Not legal advice. An independent guide, not affiliated with any airline or government agency. Verified 1 November 2026

All government rules

Storage and handling by firearm class

What the Storage, Display, Transportation and Handling of Firearms by Individuals Regulations (SOR/98-209) require of you at home, by class. Every rule shows the regulation's own wording, the provision it comes from, and the date it was checked.

These are not airport rules

These are storage and handling rules under the Firearms Act. They are not airport rules. Satisfying them does not mean an airline will carry your firearm, and aviation security requires a locked hard-sided container that these rules do not.

The rules differ by class

For a non-restricted firearm the regulation offers three ways to comply and any one of them is enough — a trigger lock alone will do. For a restricted or prohibited firearm you need a locking device and a locked container, or a purpose-built vault. Because of that difference, each class has its own page.

SOR/98-209 s.5, s.8 Non-restricted firearms: storage, display and transport Unloaded, then any one of: a secure locking device, the bolt removed, or a locked container. The only class with exceptions for predator control and remote wilderness areas. SOR/98-209 s.6, s.9 Restricted firearms: storage, display and transport Unloaded, then a secure locking device AND a locked container — or a vault, safe or room built specifically for restricted firearms. A lock on its own is not enough. SOR/98-209 s.7, s.9 Prohibited firearms: storage, display and transport As for restricted firearms, with an additional bolt-separation requirement for automatic firearms. Not the rule that applies if an Order in Council reclassified your firearm.

If your firearm was reclassified

Owners of OIC-affected firearms: start here instead

The 2020, 2024 and 2025 Orders in Council moved more than 2,500 makes and models into the prohibited class. If that is why your firearm is prohibited, you store it according to the class it held before the prohibition — not under the prohibited-firearm rule — and there is no official route to fly with it.

Firearms prohibited by Order in Council What the Amnesty Orders permit for storage and transport, why no end date can be published, how to check whether your firearm is on a prohibition list, and the compensation programme's status. These sources are re-checked daily.

Not sure of the class?

Which class is my firearm? The three official routes — your registration certificate, the RCMP Firearms Reference Table, and the Canadian Firearms Program — and what each one can and cannot tell you. FlyerArms does not classify firearms.

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