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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities launched laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun control package that will also limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

The new laws, 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 academics in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

Register

"We'd like only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and quickly it will get worse and worse and will get harder to counter," he mentioned.

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

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

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

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at least 1997, in response 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 within the wake of a mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they are contesting in courtroom. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary part" 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 might cross with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Get together.

The planned laws would forestall anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or holding a firearms license.

It should additionally require long-gun magazines to be completely altered so they can never maintain greater than 5 rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

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

"As a result of they look the same as real firearms, police must treat them as if they are actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed among the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions within the case of domestic violence, and said he would really like more info on enforcement and assets for measures such as the handgun freeze.

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

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

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

He mentioned authorities weren't using the instruments they already had to sort out gun violence, comparable to calling folks listed as references on gun license applications.

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.