Liberal Policy Promises to Ban Millions of Hunting Rifles, Lee Enfields, 22s, etc.

Daniel Fritter in Featured, Politics on September 17, 2021

The Liberal Party of Canada campaign policy has been released and includes, among other things, new restrictions on magazine capacity that would see millions of popular hunting and sporting arms rendered prohibited unless modified, when possible or practical.

Liberal Gun Policy

The policy in question is worded thusly: "Crack down on high-capacity magazines and require that long gun magazines capable of holding more than 5 rounds be permanently altered so that they can never hold more than 5 rounds." It continues, with an addendum that also states, "Ban the sale or transfer of magazines that could hold more than a legal number of bullets, regardless of how they were intended to be used by the manufacturer."

*The policy from the Liberal Party of Canada platform.*

The key phrase is "require that long gun magazines capable of holding more than 5 rounds be permanently altered so that they can never hold more than 5 rounds." A long gun is, obviously, all firearms that are not handguns. This policy is quite clear: All long gun magazines will be limited to five rounds.

What guns it will impact

This means that nearly all lever-action rifles, shotguns, many surplus rifles, and nearly all rimfire rifles like the Ruger 10/22 or any number of vintage Cooey rifles will be rendered prohibited unless their magazines are permanently modified to reduce their capacity. Likewise, various popular bolt-action rifles will be similarly impacted, including hundreds of thousands if not millions of historic Lee Enfield rifles. Their magazines will need to be cut or crimped in half, and potentially welded to the firearm to make the modification permanent. These modifications will likely have to be made by a licensed gunsmith, and documented.

*This Canadian-production No. 4 (T) rifle has a magazine capacity double that of the proposed limit.*

The cost of having the necessary modifications made will likely begin at $150 and could stretch well into the thousands depending on the specific nature of the firearm in question, the finish, and numerous other factors. Additionally, with gunsmith workloads already stretching months in advance, there may be significant delays in having the required modifications effected meaning the guns impacted will likely be required to stay stored securely as prohibited firearms until they can be modified.

Unexpected effects

Additionally, the stipulation that the Liberals will quite specifically base the capacity of what's possible, rather than what the manufacturer intended means that effectively, all guns will be limited to five of the smallest rounds that can function from that magazine. In the case of rimfire rifles with tubular magazines, such as lever-action or the popular and aforementioned Cooey rifles, that will mean the maximum capacity will be determined by 22 Short rounds, which has an overall length of just 17.7 millimetres.

Crimping the magazine tube on a rimfire rifle so as to limit it to 5 rounds of 22 Short will reduce the capacity to 3 rounds of 22LR ammunition.

*Both of these rimfire rifles will be prohibited unless fitted with modified magazines limited to 5 rounds of 22 Short.*

A similar situation arises with 12-gauge shotguns, where the availability of 1-3/4" long "minishells" means magazine tubes on nearly all hunting and sporting shotguns will be limited to 3 rounds of standard 2-3/4" ammunition or 2 rounds of magnum ammunition.

Some firearms with integral magazines, such as Savage Model 99 lever-action hunting rifles, the M1 Garand rifle, or revolver-type rifles may be impractical or too costly to modify to bring into compliance with this new law, and will need to be surrendered for destruction.