Canada introduces regulation 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 purchase of handguns as part of a gun management bundle that will additionally limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that seem like weapons.

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

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

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"We need solely look south of the border to know that if we do not take motion firmly and quickly it will get worse and worse and will get harder to counter," he said.

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

Authorities do not anticipate a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part because they're so heavily regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US but while its gun murder rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. rate it is increased than that of other rich international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was five times Australia's charge.

The speed in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 1997, in keeping with Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years ago within the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms homeowners say they are contesting in courtroom. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" of a program to purchase again and compensate owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws may move with the help of the left-leaning New Democratic Celebration.

The planned laws would prevent anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or preserving a firearms license.

It should additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can by no means hold more than 5 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 real guns, comparable to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read extra

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

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

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

"You can not distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving reproduction firearms occur usually in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not utilizing the instruments they already needed to tackle gun violence, similar to calling folks listed as references on gun license functions.

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

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