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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced legislation Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as part of a gun management package that would also restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be guns.

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

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

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"We'd like 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 will get harder to counter," he stated.

The handgun freeze would include exceptions, together with for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and safety guards. Canadians who already personal handguns can be allowed to maintain them.

Authorities do not count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partially as a result of they're so closely regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun laws than the USA but while its gun murder rate is lower than one-fifth the U.S. price it is higher than that of different wealthy international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 times Australia's rate.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since a minimum of 1997, based on 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 capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms owners say they're contesting in court docket. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to buy again and compensate owners of such weapons.

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

The deliberate laws would prevent anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or conserving a firearms license.

It will additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never maintain more than five rounds and can ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that appear to be real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

"Because they appear the same as actual firearms, police have to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a few of the moves, such as the "crimson flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would really like extra info on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he mentioned have been a "huge challenge."

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

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

He mentioned authorities weren't using the tools they already had to tackle gun violence, resembling calling individuals listed as references on gun license purposes.

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

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