r/canadaguns • u/Stunning-Position759 • Mar 18 '26

Application / Regulation advice Only way to get a handgun exemption???

Why Does the “Protection of Life” Handgun Exemption Exist in Canada?

I’ve been doing some research into Canadian firearms law, specifically the exemptions related to restricted and prohibited handguns, and I came across something that raised a lot of questions for me.

Under section 20 of the Firearms Act, there is a category that allows individuals to possess restricted firearms or prohibited handguns for “Protection of Life.”

• The individual (or others) must face imminent danger from another person

• Police protection must be insufficient in the circumstances

• Possession of the firearm must be reasonably justified to prevent death or grievous bodily harm

What I find interesting is that an ATIP request reportedly showed that only one person in Canada currently holds this exemption.

Why does this category exist in legislation if it is almost never granted?

Has anyone tried to apply for this or has experience with this.

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u/waitwhatnothing Mar 18 '26

There are other ways to get a handgun exemption, there’s wilderness ATC for trappers and some other occupations. There’s also the exemption for competitors in ISSF pistol events.

I think the protection of life exemption is being phased out basically. It hasn’t been legal to just carry a handgun for self defence without some kind permit/exemption for over a hundred years and it’s just been made harder and harder to obtain over time.

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u/psinguine Mar 18 '26

It's not legal to carry anything for protection, with the exception of this carve out in the law. You cannot legally carry a pointy stick if you claim that it's for self protection .

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u/IGnuGnat Mar 18 '26

It's not legal to carry anything for protection against humans

It's legal, for example, to carry a heavy stick or dog spray for the purposes of protection against dogs. It's legal to carry bear spray, a shotgun for protection against bears

It's not legal to carry anything for protection against humans; I think there are some additional exceptions we haven't seen discussed. For example Brinks truck drivers or armoured car drivers can get some kind of license to carry; so if you're protecting money or valuables in transportation, apparently that's somehow worth more than a human life, then you can carry.