When Michael Moore talked on Real Time last night about needing a note from your wife to buy a gun in Canada, it caught my attention. Is it true?

As it turns out, pretty much. This is from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Information Sheet: Application for a Possession and Acquisition Licence Under the Firearms Act (for Individuals Aged 18 and Over):

E and F - Information About Current and Former
Conjugal Partners

Conjugal partner includes spouses and common law partners
and all other persons with whom you live or have lived in a
similar relationship within the last 2 years.

A spouse is a person to whom you are legally married. A
common-law partner is a person who is cohabiting with you in
a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at
least one year.

Boxes 18 and 19
The signatures of your current or former conjugal partners is
not legally required. However, if their signatures is not
provided, the Chief Firearms Officer has a duty to notify them
of your application for a firearms licence.

Gee, seems like a good idea, since firearms are involved in so much domestic violence, right?

There's more, all of it sensible. Maybe that's why I can't remember the last time we heard of a mass shooting in Canada.