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THE CLAIM

"Canada is forcing all ºÃÉ«tvs to hand in their guns," reads a Sept. 28 post from the U.S. politics-focused account @WallStreetMav on the , formerly Twitter. "They have one year to get compensation by handing in their guns. Starting in October 2026 it will become criminal to own a gun."

The post, which had more than five million views and 49,000 likes at the time of publication, included a video taken from a that showed Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree announcing a gun buyback pilot project at a news conference last week.

Other U.S. accounts on X and repeated the claim, with some adding comments advocating that : "Let’s make Alberta the 51st state."

THE FACTS

Only certain types of firearms are covered by federal gun restrictions, and ºÃÉ«tvs with a possession and acquisition licence are able to own other firearms for sport and hunting.

More than 2.4 million people in Canada have a firearms licence, according to a .Ìý

There are three classes of firearms in Canada: non-restricted, restricted and prohibited.

Since May 2020, Ottawa has approximately 2,500 types of what it calls assault-style firearms — semi-automatics with sustained rapid-fire capability.

On Sept. 23, Anandasangaree announced that a for prohibited firearms will be open first to eligible gun owners in select areas of Cape Breton before it is launched to the rest of the country.Ìý

Anandasangaree said gun owners have until October 2026 to hand prohibited guns over to the government in exchange for compensation, or they can export, deactivate or turn them into police without compensation.

offered to gun owners ranges from $150 to $9,945 depending on the make and model.Ìý

An earlier phase of the compensation program saw more than 12,000 firearms handed in by businesses, with approximately $22 million in compensation paid out.

The federal government says that remain available for use in Canada.

Many firearms popular with sport shooters or hunters are still legal to own in Canada.Ìý

The Remington 700 bolt-action rifle and shotguns like the Mossberg 500 and Remington 870, for example, are not among the list of banned guns.

A came into effect in October 2022. This limited handgun purchases to certain exempted businesses and individuals, such as law enforcement.

This report by ºÃÉ«tvwas first published Oct. 1, 2025.