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

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management package deal that may also restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that appear like weapons.

The brand 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 youngsters and two academics of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters the brand new measures had been wanted as gun violence was increasing.

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"We need 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 gets more difficult to counter," he stated.

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

Authorities don't 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 laws than america however while its gun homicide rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. rate it is higher than that of other wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 instances Australia's rate.

The rate in every of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since at the least 1997, in line with 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 capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they are contesting in courtroom. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to buy again and compensate house owners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws might cross with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Social gathering.

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

It's going to additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can by no means hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that appear like actual guns, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more

"Because they look the identical as actual firearms, police have to deal with them as if they're actual. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

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

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he mentioned were a "huge problem."

"You can't distinguish between what's a duplicate firearm and what's an actual firearm, notably when these incidences involving replica firearms occur usually in very dynamic, shortly evolving circumstances."

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

He said authorities were not using the tools they already had to deal with gun violence, equivalent to calling folks listed as references on gun license purposes.

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

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