James87, i am curious as to why you say Canadian gun laws are "fairly relaxed". In CA they are arbitrarily, meddlesomely, bossily strict, but I think they're more relaxed than in Canada. cn
We don't have a limit on the number of rounds in a magazine for rimfire, so 25's and 50's are common in, for example, Ruger 10/22's. Rifles, 5 or 10 rounds max, depending.. The rules can be confusing. Pistols 10 rounds max.. So its better to have larger caliber. I mean, for example, a Glock can have well-over 10 rounds in 9mm, or extended mags. So the limit is 10, you may as well have .44 or .45 ACP or even .454 Casull.. The gangbangers *love* 9mm for some reason, but they suffer from overpenetration and don't deliver much energy, which is why you hear about some rapper getting shot a bunch of times and still walking. But with a .45 center-mass hit, the dude isn't gonna get up ever again. Also any pistols with a barrel length shorter than "about 4 inches" (snub-nose revolvers, for example) are all prohibited.
There are three classifications:
1) Unrestricted: Rifles, shotguns, generally about 27" in length or more, 18.5" barrel.. Center-fire single-shot like break-open shotguns can have shorter barrels. Semi-auto.
2) Restricted: Most pistols (barrels longer than 4"), almost all 5.56mm NATO type rifles, semi-automatic.
3) Prohibited: Everything else, including rocket launchers, mortars, suppressors (in the movies, known as silencers), full-auto, selective fire, etc.
You only need the license. Get a prohibited license, and you can own everything. The big difference between Canada gun laws and American is the laws concerning concealed carry. In the US, there is a "shall carry" and Canada is a "may carry". 99% of Canadians will never get a concealed carry license, OR even a prohibited one.
There is also an issue about transporting restricted arms in Canada. You need a piece of paper called "Authorization To Transport" which entitles you to put a pistol in a lockbox, in the trunk (boot) of your car, from your house to the shooting range. No stopping!! No stops for gas, for food, detours, nothing. And then drive back.
Right now there are some cases that will help define those gun laws, as our law is based on precedence. A guy was defending his home from people throwing burning molotov cocktails at his house, and he unlocked his pistol and loaded it, went outside and fired 3 warning shots and they ran away. The guy is/was a firearms instructor, but they still tried to charge him with "unsafe this&that x 40" charges.
Anybody with a gun license cannot have a criminal record.. And most people aren't aware that if you have a restricted or prohibited license, police don't need a warrant to search your house.