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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun management bundle that might additionally restrict magazine capacities and ban some toys that appear to be weapons.

The new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved last yr amid a nationwide election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two lecturers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the brand new measures had been wanted as gun violence was increasing.

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

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

Authorities do not expect a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly as a result of they are so closely regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun laws than the United States however whereas its gun homicide fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's larger than that of different wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five instances Australia's fee.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 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 ago in the wake of a mass taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they're contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to buy back and compensate house owners of such weapons.

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

The deliberate laws would forestall anybody topic to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or keeping a firearms license.

It can additionally require long-gun magazines to be completely altered so they can by no means hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

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

"As a result of they give the impression of being the same as real firearms, police need to deal with them as if they are actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti informed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a number of the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and said he would like more information on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he mentioned had been a "huge problem."

"You can't distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen 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 stated authorities were not using the tools they already needed to tackle gun violence, corresponding 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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.