Canada introduces law to freeze handgun sales, ban look-alike toys

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management package that may additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

The brand new laws, which resurrects some measures that were shelved last yr amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two lecturers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed reporters the new measures were wanted as gun violence was increasing.

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"We need solely look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and rapidly it will get worse and worse and gets harder to counter," he said.

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, together with for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and safety guards. Canadians who already own handguns would be allowed to keep them.

Authorities don't count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly because they're so heavily regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US however whereas its gun homicide price is lower than one-fifth the U.S. charge it is greater than that of different wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 times Australia's charge.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since not less than 1997, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past in the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms house owners say they're contesting in courtroom. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to buy again and compensate house owners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation may go with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Get together.

The deliberate laws would prevent anyone topic to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or protecting a firearms license.

It would also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to by no means maintain more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would additionally ban some toys that appear like actual guns, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn more

"Because they appear the identical as real firearms, police need to deal with them as if they are real. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti advised reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a number of the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and stated he would love more data on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He fully supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he said were a "large challenge."

"You can't distinguish between what's a duplicate firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen usually in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

Rod Giltaca, the pinnacle of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, stated the handgun freeze was "absurd."

He stated authorities were not utilizing the tools they already needed to sort out gun violence, equivalent to calling people listed as references on gun license applications.

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Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

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