In this video, Rod Giltaca talks about Canada's Magazine Capacity Regulations and the implications on the legal firearms owners in Canada.
Supporting Information:
Magazine Capacity Regulations
Canada's regulations are contained in SOR/98-462. The regulations describe what magazines are prohibited in Canada, and therefore carry a serious criminal sentence for possession. The applicable section is pasted below and emphasis on certain a
reas has been added in bold. For the complete regulations, click here.
Prohibited Devices
3 (1) Any cartridge magazine
(a) that is capable of containing more than five cartridges of the type for which the magazine was originally designed and that is designed or manufactured for use in
(i) a semi-automatic handgun that is not commonly available in Canada,
(ii) a semi-automatic firearm other than a semi-automatic handgun,
(iii) an automatic firearm whether or not it has been altered to discharge only one projectile with one pressure of the trigger,
(iv) the firearms of the designs commonly known as the Ingram M10 and M11 pistols, and any variants or modified versions of them, including the Cobray M10 and M11 pistols, the RPB M10, M11 and SM11 pistols and the SWD M10, M11, SM10 and SM11 pistols,
(v) the firearm of the design commonly known as the Partisan Avenger Auto Pistol, and any variant or modified version of it, or
(vi) the firearm of the design commonly known as the UZI pistol, and any variant or modified version of it, including the Micro-UZI pistol; or
(b) that is capable of containing more than 10 cartridges of the type for which the magazine was originally designed and that is designed or manufactured for use in a semi-automatic handgun that is commonly available in Canada.
(2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not include any cartridge magazine that
(a) was originally designed or manufactured for use in a firearm that
(i) is chambered for, or designed to use, rimfire cartridges,
(ii) is a rifle of the type commonly known as the “Lee Enfield” rifle, where the magazine is capable of containing not more than 10 cartridges of the type for which the magazine was originally designed, or
(iii) is commonly known as the U.S. Rifle M1 (Garand) including the Beretta M1 Garand rifle, the Breda M1 Garand rifle and the Springfield Armoury M1 Garand rifle;
(b) is not a reproduction and was originally designed or manufactured for use in a firearm that
(i) is commonly known as the Charlton Rifle,
(ii) is commonly known as the Farquhar-Hill Rifle, or
(iii) is commonly known as the Huot Automatic Rifle;
How to make a standard capacity magazine legal?
In Canada, the vast majority of firearm magazines are limited to legal capacity by using a simple rivet. It's a cost effective solution for legal businesses, importers, and distributors, however, it is not the most "robust" method and a broken rivet can have serious legal consequences for a legal firearms owner. The same regulations that are mentioned above describe what is an acceptable way to limit a magazine's capacity. The applicable section has been pasted below. For the full text, click here.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), altering or re-manufacturing a cartridge magazine includes
(a) the indentation of its casing by forging, casting, swaging or impressing;
(b) in the case of a cartridge magazine with a steel or aluminum casing, the insertion and attachment of a plug, sleeve, rod, pin, flange or similar device, made of steel or aluminum, as the case may be, or of a similar material, to the inner surface of its casing by welding, brazing or any other similar method; or
(c) in the case of a cartridge magazine with a casing made of a material other than steel or aluminum, the attachment of a plug, sleeve, rod, pin, flange or similar device, made of steel or of a material similar to that of the magazine casing, to the inner surface of its casing by welding, brazing or any other similar method or by applying a permanent adhesive substance, such as a cement or an epoxy or other glue.
Criminal Offence for Possession?
Unauthorized possession of prohibited weapon or restricted weapon
(2) Subject to subsection (4), every person commits an offence who possesses a prohibited weapon, a restricted weapon, a prohibited device, other than a replica firearm, or any prohibited ammunition, without being the holder of a licence under which the person may possess it.
Punishment
(3) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2)
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Can Criminals really 3D print a magazine?
In 2013 Wired printed this article: New 3-D Printed Rifle Magazine Lets You Fire Hundreds of Rounds
"The 3-D printing gunsmiths at Defense Distributed are about to release blueprints for an upgraded magazine that won’t degrade even after you fire hundreds of rounds... It’s a new printed magazine for your AR-15 rifle, soon to be available for download, and it holds 30 bullets... Defense Distributed is basically saying that if you’re not going to be allowed to buy larger magazines in the near future, you can print them yourself..."