Mass shootings in Canada have helped prompt changes to firearm laws over the decades

By Canadian Press on February 11, 2026.

OTTAWA — Mass shootings in Canada — including an April 2020 rampage in Nova Scotia — have helped spur changes to gun laws in recent decades.

Since May 2020, Ottawa has outlawed about 2,500 types of firearms, including the AR-15, on the basis they belong only on the battlefield.

Prohibited firearms and devices must be disposed of — or deactivated — by the end of an amnesty period on Oct. 30.

In 1989, a gunman murdered 14 women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique.

In the early 1990s, federal legislation toughened penalties for gun-related crimes and ushered in new measures on acquiring and storing firearms.

The Liberal government of Jean Chrétien created a universal gun registration system in the 1990s, though it was later ended by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press