Firearms business licence

A buyer of a sporting goods store or gun shop should check this licence early. It is federal: the RCMP says its Canadian Firearms Program oversees firearms licences in accordance with the Firearms Act, and under s.58 the chief firearms officer who issues a licence may attach conditions to it. The Firearms Act says a licence issued to a business must specify each activity it authorizes in relation to firearms, cross-bows, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, prohibited devices, ammunition or prohibited ammunition.

Locations, people and records

Under the Act a business other than a carrier requires a separate licence for each place where the business is carried on. Eligibility also turns on people: a business is eligible only if every person in a prescribed relationship to it is eligible, subject to the Act’s exceptions, and licences that authorize possession of firearms depend on the licensing of employees who handle them. A chief firearms officer must attach record-keeping conditions, and the business must, unless a chief firearms officer directs otherwise, transmit those records to a prescribed official if it is determined that it will cease to be a business.

What to ask

• Which activities the current licence lists and for which location
• Whether the buyer and its people meet the eligibility tests before closing
• How the chief firearms officer treats a change of owner, which only that office can confirm
• Where the required records are kept and who holds them

The sporting goods store due diligence guide puts the licence beside inventory and lease items.