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TheGunBlog.ca — About 13 percent of Canadians with a firearm Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) own so-called “Restricted” or “Prohibited” guns, such as handguns or AR-15 rifles, the Globe and Mail reported today, citing the federal police.

Some 293,000 men and women owned at least one “Restricted” or “Prohibited” firearm in September out of 2.2 million PAL holders, including 640,000 with a “Restricted” PAL, the newspaper said today on its website, citing the Ottawa-based Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Roughly 593,000 people had a “Restricted” PAL at the end of June, according to RCMP data published by TheGunBlog.ca.

At the time, individuals, businesses and museums owned about 1 million “Restricted” or “Prohibited” handguns and about 105,000 “Restricted” or “Prohibited” rifles and shotguns.

All guns are banned for everyone in Canada under threat of prison unless they have a licence authorized by the federal police as a temporary waiver. Handguns and AR-15 rifles require additional police permission to buy, sell, own, or transport.

The federal government said in August it is examining a “full ban” on handguns and many other firearms.

“I’m looking at all of the ways in which we can interdict the supply of guns into the criminal world, and focusing on the border and the border alone would, in my opinion, only be doing half the job,” Bill Blair, the crime minister, was quoted as telling the Globe and Mail in an interview.

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