Mr. Speaker, under the authority of the chief firearms officers, an authorization to transport is issued for the movement, or transport, of restricted and prohibited firearms. The application for an authorization to transport requires the client, the licencee, to indicate the reason for transport, which the chief firearms officer of jurisdiction will approve or refuse.
Since December 1, 1998, with the coming into force of the Firearms Act, all authorizations to transport that have been issued—i.e., approved--are retained within the Canadian Firearms Information System.
An analysis on all valid authorizations to transport as of August 1, 2015, established that 138,184, or 96.5%, of the 143,177 valid authorizations to transport were issued for one of two reasons for transport: first, transport of restricted firearms and/or prohibited handguns designated 12(6.1), possessed for the purpose of target practice, to and from all shooting clubs and ranges approved under section 29 of the Firearms Act; second, transport of a newly acquired restricted firearm and/or prohibited firearm from the place of acquisition to the place of registration.
On September 2, 2015, the legislative process for authorizations to transport was altered as a result of Bill C-42, whereby six transportation provisions for restricted and prohibited firearms would now be a condition on a firearms licence as opposed to through an authorization to transport.
Under a Bill C-71 regime, the two transportation provisions noted above would continue to be a condition on a firearms licence.