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

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities launched laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun control package that might additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that seem like weapons.

The brand new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final 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 have been wanted as gun violence was growing.

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"We want only look south of the border to know that if we do not take motion firmly and quickly it will get worse and worse and gets tougher to counter," he stated.

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

Authorities do not count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partially because they are so heavily regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than america however while its gun murder rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it's greater than that of other rich international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's rate.

The rate in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since not less than 1997, in accordance with 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 transfer some firearms owners say they're contesting in court docket. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary section" of a program to purchase again and compensate owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws could pass with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Celebration.

The planned legislation would stop anyone subject to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or conserving a firearms license.

It would also require long-gun magazines to be completely altered to allow them to by no means hold greater than five rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that appear to be real weapons, similar to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they appear the same as real firearms, police have to deal with them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti advised reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a number of the moves, such because the "pink flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would like more info on enforcement and resources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on pretend guns, which he mentioned had been a "big challenge."

"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's an actual firearm, significantly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not using the instruments they already needed to sort out gun violence, similar to calling folks listed as references on gun license applications.

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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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