14 years
Hybrid offence with a 14-year maximum on indictment (raised by 2022, c. 15). Constitutes serious criminality under IRPA s.36(1). Possession of a loaded or readily accessible prohibited/restricted firearm carries severe immigration consequences.
Having a prohibited or restricted gun together with ammunition that is loaded or within easy reach. The serious route carries 14 years, well inside serious criminality. Immigration officers apply that ceiling even where the local outcome was a short sentence or none at all.
(1) Subject to subsection (3), every person commits an offence who, in any place, possesses a loaded prohibited firearm or restricted firearm, or an unloaded prohibited firearm or restricted firearm together with readily accessible ammunition that is capable of being discharged in the firearm, without being the holder of (a) an authorization or a licence under which the person may possess the firearm in that place; and (b) the registration certificate for the firearm. (2) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years; or (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who is using the firearm under the direct and immediate supervision of another person who is lawfully entitled to possess it and is using the firearm in a manner in which that other person may lawfully use it.