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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management bundle that would additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be weapons.

The new legislation, which resurrects some measures that were shelved final year amid a nationwide election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two teachers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

Register

"We need only look south of the border to know that if we don't take motion firmly and quickly 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 security guards. Canadians who already personal handguns would be allowed to keep them.

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

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

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since not less than 1997, in line 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 move some firearms homeowners say they're contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial section" of a program to buy back and compensate homeowners of such weapons.

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

The planned laws would forestall anybody subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or maintaining a firearms license.

It would additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can never hold greater than five rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that seem like actual weapons, akin to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn more

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

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

He utterly supported a crackdown on fake weapons, which he mentioned have been a "large challenge."

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

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

He stated authorities were not utilizing the instruments they already had to tackle gun violence, equivalent to calling folks listed as references on gun license functions.

Register

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 Belief Principles.