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

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management package deal that would additionally restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

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 kids and two academics of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

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

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the United States however whereas its gun murder fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it is higher than that of other wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's fee.

The speed in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at the very least 1997, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 fashions of assault weapons, 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. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" of a program to buy again and compensate house owners of such weapons.

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

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

It will also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to by no means maintain greater than 5 rounds and can ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

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

"Because they look the same as real firearms, police must treat them as if they're actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a number of the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and stated he would like extra data on enforcement and assets for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he stated have been a "large problem."

"You can't distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's an actual firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He stated authorities weren't using the instruments they already had to sort out gun violence, such as calling people listed as references on gun license functions.

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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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