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

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities launched legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun management package deal that might also limit journal capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

The brand new laws, which resurrects some measures that were shelved last year amid a nationwide election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two teachers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the brand new measures have been needed as gun violence was rising.

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"We'd like 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 gets more difficult to counter," he stated.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the United States but while its gun murder fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it is greater than that of other wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 instances Australia's price.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at the very least 1997, based on 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 owners say they're contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" 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 support of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

The deliberate legislation would prevent anybody subject to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or protecting a firearms license.

It will 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 laws would also ban some toys that seem like real weapons, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

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

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a number of the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions within the case of domestic violence, and said he would love more data on enforcement and assets for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on fake weapons, which he said have been a "massive challenge."

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

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

He stated authorities were not utilizing the instruments they already needed to deal with gun violence, comparable to calling people listed as references on gun license applications.

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.