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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced legislation 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 seem like guns.

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved last 12 months amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two academics of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

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"We want only look south of the border to know that if we don't take motion firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and will get harder to counter," he stated.

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 maintain them.

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the US however whereas its gun homicide fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it's greater than that of other wealthy international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 times Australia's charge.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country'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 shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they're contesting in courtroom. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" of a program to purchase back and compensate house owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation could go with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Celebration.

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

It's going to also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never hold greater than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new laws would additionally ban some toys that appear like actual guns, akin to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

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

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a number of the moves, such as the "pink flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and stated he would love extra information on enforcement and resources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on fake weapons, which he stated had been a "big challenge."

"You can not distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms happen typically in very dynamic, shortly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not utilizing the instruments they already had to tackle gun violence, comparable to calling people listed as references on gun license applications.

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.