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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun control bundle that would also limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like weapons.

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final 12 months amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed reporters the brand new measures were needed as gun violence was rising.

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"We want solely look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and will get tougher to counter," he mentioned.

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

Authorities don't expect a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partially because they're so closely regulated already, an official said in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the USA but whereas its gun homicide charge is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it is increased than that of other wealthy nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 instances Australia's charge.

The speed in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since at the very least 1997, in keeping with Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 fashions of assault weapons, just like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past within the wake of a mass taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they are contesting in court. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to buy again and compensate owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws might go with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Occasion.

The planned legislation would stop anybody subject to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or conserving a firearms license.

It would also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never hold greater than five rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The new laws would also ban some toys that appear to be real guns, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"Because they appear the identical as actual firearms, police must deal with them as if they're actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the strikes, such because the "crimson flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and mentioned he would love more information on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He fully supported a crackdown on pretend weapons, which he mentioned have been a "massive problem."

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

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

He stated authorities were not using the tools they already needed to tackle gun violence, akin to calling folks 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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