The October 30 Amnesty Deadline Is Gone. Here Is What Replaced It

If you own a firearm prohibited by the May 2020, December 2024, or March 2025 Orders in Council, the date you have had circled on the calendar no longer exists. On June 9, 2026, Public Safety Canada extended the amnesty orders, and the change became law in the Canada Gazette on June 17, 2026 (SOR/2026-114). The amnesty now expires 90 days after the Supreme Court of Canada rules on the challenge to the prohibition. No hearing date has been set, and the government expects a decision next year.

We built several posts around the October 30 date because, until June, it was the date that mattered. It is not anymore. This post covers what changed, what did not, and what to do with the time you have been given. We have also updated our earlier posts so nothing on this site tells you a deadline that no longer exists.

What changed

On March 19, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to hear four appeals challenging the 2020 prohibition, including the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights case. The core question is whether cabinet had the authority to prohibit these firearms by Order in Council rather than through Parliament. Alberta and Saskatchewan are backing the challenge.

Rather than let the amnesty lapse partway through the appeal, the government moved the expiry itself. Public Safety Canada announced the extension on June 9, 2026, and it was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on June 17, 2026 as SOR/2026-114. All three amnesty orders, covering the 2020, 2024, and 2025 prohibitions, were extended together. The Public Safety Minister framed the extension as a matter of respect for the court and for firearms owners.

What did not change

The prohibition itself. Every firearm on the 2020, 2024, and 2025 lists remains prohibited. You cannot use, sell, transfer, or import them, and hunting or sport shooting with them remains off the table.

The conditions of protection. You must hold a valid PAL to be covered by the amnesty. If your licence lapses, your protection lapses with it. Storage requirements follow the firearm's previous classification, and transport is permitted only for the disposal purposes set out in the amnesty orders.

The compensation program. The extension does not reopen the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program. The individual declaration window ran from January 19 to March 31, 2026 and closed with over 68,000 firearms declared. The second business phase closed on June 4, 2026 with more than 61,900 firearms claimed. Collection runs through early fall 2026, and the government expects the program to be complete by October 2026. If you did not declare in time, compensation is off the table no matter how long the amnesty now runs.

One mechanical change did come with the amendments: in exceptional situations, such as long travel distances to a collection point, program participants may be permitted to ship their firearms for disposal. The program will contact eligible participants directly.

What 90 days after the ruling means in practice

The clock does not start until the Supreme Court rules, and the Court has not set a hearing date. The government expects a decision next year, which means the amnesty will likely run well into 2027. That is an estimate, not a promise. The honest answer is that nobody knows the date the amnesty ends, including the government. What we know is the trigger: the day the Court rules, the 90 days begin.

If the Court strikes the prohibition down, the picture changes entirely and we will cover it here. If the Court upholds it, those 90 days are the final runway. Either way, the trigger is now a court decision rather than a date on a calendar.

What to do now

1. Check your exact make and model against the official list of firearms for individuals on canada.ca. Do not rely on summaries, including ours.
2. Keep your PAL valid. Amnesty protection depends on it, and a lapsed licence cannot be fixed after the fact.
3. Leave the firearm stored to the standard of its previous classification, and do not sell, transfer, or use it.
4. If you did not declare for compensation, your remaining paths are permanent deactivation to the regulatory standard, turning the firearm in, or export. You now have time to make that decision deliberately instead of under an October panic. Use it.

The Silvercore Path

This post is the current word on the amnesty timeline. For the full picture, continue on the Silvercore Path:

• Canada's Firearms Buyback Program, Explained
• Prohibited Firearms in Canada: The Complete Ban List
• The Official List of 324 Newly Banned Firearms
• Non-Restricted vs Restricted vs Prohibited Firearms

Official sources

• News release, June 9, 2026 (canada.ca)
• Amnesty Orders extensions (canada.ca)
• Canada Gazette, Part II, SOR/2026-114
• Supreme Court of Canada case file 41859

This is a moving file. The information above is current as of August 14, 2026. When the Supreme Court sets a hearing date or rules, we will update this page and the related posts.

Travis Bader, Silvercore Outdoors