I'm having trouble finding the thread where Adam proposed that you moved
to Canada. I was going to append to that thread but since I can't find
it, I'll post here. I mentioned to ChatGPT that I was asking for an
American that was considering moving to Canada - and I know you're not seriously thinking about that - just to see what the answer was and it
threw out some additional hurdles to anyone coming here with guns:

========================================================================== Yes?and "would he have trouble?" is very much a matter of which guns he
owns.

If he's seriously contemplating the move, I'd tell him not to put the
guns on the moving truck and sort it out at the Canadian border. Canada requires the firearms to be classified under Canadian law before
importation, and a U.S. firearm that is perfectly ordinary in America
may be prohibited here.

The basic situation is:

Non-restricted rifle or shotgun: potentially importable as part of a
move to Canada, provided he obtains the necessary Canadian firearms
licence (PAL) and satisfies the import requirements. CBSA specifically provides for "settlers" moving to Canada to import non-restricted
firearms as personal effects.
Restricted firearm: potentially much more complicated. A PAL with the appropriate privileges, registration, verification and an Authorization
to Transport are involved.
Prohibited firearm: he cannot bring it into Canada as a new immigrant.
This is particularly important if he owns AR-15s or other firearms that
Canada has classified as prohibited.
Handguns: the situation is especially restrictive. Even apart from the
import rules, Canada's handgun acquisition freeze means that moving here
with a handgun isn't anything like moving here with an ordinary hunting
rifle. He should have the specific handgun checked before making any arrangements.

There's also a potentially nasty U.S.-side issue: he has to comply not
only with Canadian import law but also with U.S. export requirements.
The RCMP explicitly points out that the laws of the exporting country
apply as well.

So if he gives you a list of the make/model/calibre of the firearms he
owns, I can go through them and tell you which ones are likely to be non-restricted, restricted, or prohibited in Canada, and therefore which
ones he could potentially bring when moving. That's probably much more
useful than trying to explain the entire Canadian firearms regime to him
at once. ==========================================================================

So even if you came to one of the milder parts of the country - you'd
find the Vancouver area that mildest part of the country but the very
frequent rain might drive you batty over time; southern Ontario is not
as mild but it's a lot less cold than most of the country and we have
winters where it barely snows at all, even when the weather is below
freezing, although we also have occasional winters with multiple
blizzards and frequent snow - you might have to get used to different
guns than you're used to. (A lot of the prohibited weapons are things
that look scary but other weapons with much the same capabilities are
fine. For instance, a Ruger mini 14 is not that much different from the
AR-15 - I've heard!! - so people might use that instead of an AR-15.)
Oops, someone must have overheard my friend from the Canadian Army
observing that and they've banned the mini 14 too now.)
--
Rhino


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