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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management package deal that will 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 national election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two academics of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters the brand new measures had been needed as gun violence was growing.

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"We need only look south of the border to know that if we don't take motion firmly and rapidly it will get worse and worse and will get more difficult to counter," he said.

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, including for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and safety guards. Canadians who already personal handguns could be allowed to maintain them.

Authorities don't count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part as a result of they are so heavily regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US but while its gun homicide fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it's higher than that of other rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five times Australia's rate.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since a minimum of 1997, in accordance with Statistics Canada.

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

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation might move with the help of the left-leaning New Democratic Celebration.

The planned laws would prevent anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or keeping a firearms license.

It'll also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new laws would additionally ban some toys that look like actual weapons, comparable to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more

"As a result of they appear the same as real firearms, police must treat them as if they are actual. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

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

He fully supported a crackdown on pretend weapons, which he mentioned were a "large problem."

"You cannot distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving reproduction firearms occur typically in very dynamic, shortly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities weren't utilizing the tools they already needed to sort out gun violence, equivalent to calling people listed as references on gun license purposes.

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

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