How hard is it to buy a handgun in Canada? What kind of licence do you need? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It's not hard if you've already got one. I assume you don't have a PAL (Possession and Acquisition Licence). You'll have to take the Canadian Firearms Safety course (non-restricted rifles & shotguns) and the Canadian Restricted Fiearms Safety Course. All handguns are in the Restricted or Prohibited class. You just can't take the Restricted course without taking the non-restricted course first or concurrently. Prices for the courses vary by province.

Then you apply for your Restricted PAL ($80). You may have to join a gun club, depending on which province you're in. Good idea anyhow. Once you've got your paperwork in order, buy one from a dealer, who will handle the rest of the paperwork. That may take half an hour or weeks. It's usually longer for a first time buyer. If you're lucky, the Feds will issue a TAN (Transfer Authorization Number) over the phone and you can take your gun home that day. You'll need a ATT (Authorization To Transport) to take the handgun to the range or anywhere else. Your gun club can help you get an ATT.

If you live in Saskatchewan, I can give you some more advice. Otherwise log into http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/ and ask where you can get the course and find a gun club in your province.

Bye
Jack

Maybe someday Canada will lighten up and allow handguns in the country for hunting purposes, thats the thorn in my side about Canada, can't hunt with a handgun or even as a backup. I love Canada a great place where some of my roots came from. Just wish they would make it easy for big game hunters to hunt in canida. At one time Canada guides years back it was worth hunting in Canada due to the guides only charged canadian money, so us Americans would make out well with the exchange, the hunt would be reduced quite a bit, making it affordable to hunt in Canada, even beat out the guides here in the states, now it is USA currency and no breaks, Now I stay here in the states and hunt, too pricey to hunt Canada for the most part :( Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

Thanks for the replies. If you can't hunt with a handgun, then what can you do with it? :(

I beleive that Rmouleart is refering to bringing handguns into the country from the States for hunting. You can bring in long guns to hunt, with a permit, but handguns are not possible at all. Makes it very tough for the soldiers stationed in AK, who own handguns, can't bring them on the AK highway when they move.
Andy