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

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

The new laws, which resurrects some measures that had been shelved final year amid a nationwide election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two academics in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

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"We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and rapidly it will get worse and worse and will get harder 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 anticipate a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly as a result of they're so closely regulated already, an official said in a briefing.

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

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

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation might move with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Occasion.

The deliberate laws would prevent anyone topic to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or maintaining a firearms license.

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

The brand new laws would additionally ban some toys that seem like actual weapons, comparable to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"Because they give the impression of being the same as actual firearms, police have to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

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

He completely supported a crackdown on pretend guns, which he stated had been a "huge problem."

"You cannot distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, significantly when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen usually in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not using the instruments they already had to deal with gun violence, corresponding to 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, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.