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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management package deal that will also limit journal capacities and ban some toys that appear like weapons.

The new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final year amid a national election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two lecturers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

Register

"We want solely look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and quickly it gets worse and worse and gets tougher to counter," he mentioned.

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 maintain them.

Authorities don't anticipate a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly because they are so closely regulated already, an official said in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun laws than the US however while its gun murder rate is lower than one-fifth the U.S. rate it is greater than that of different rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five instances Australia's price.

The rate in every of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since at least 1997, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past within the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they're contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary part" of a program to buy again and compensate homeowners 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 Party.

The deliberate legislation would forestall anybody topic to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or preserving a firearms license.

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

The new laws would also ban some toys that appear to be real guns, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they give the impression of being the identical as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they're real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti advised reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a few of the moves, such as the "crimson flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would love more data on enforcement and sources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on pretend guns, which he said had been a "massive problem."

"You cannot distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving replica firearms occur typically in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."

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

He stated authorities were not using the tools they already had to tackle gun violence, akin to calling individuals listed as references on gun license applications.

Register

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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Belief Principles.