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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced legislation Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management package deal that would additionally restrict magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like weapons.

The new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved last yr amid a national election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two teachers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the brand new measures had 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 will get 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 personal handguns can be allowed to maintain them.

Authorities don't count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part as a result of they're so closely regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than america but while its gun murder price is less than one-fifth the U.S. fee it's higher than that of other rich nations 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 a minimum of 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 in the wake of a mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms house owners say they're contesting in court docket. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial phase" of a program to buy back and compensate house owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation could go with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Occasion.

The deliberate laws would prevent anyone subject to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or conserving a firearms license.

It should additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can never maintain greater than five rounds and can ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that seem like real guns, akin to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

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

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

He completely supported a crackdown on pretend guns, which he stated have been a "large problem."

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

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

He stated authorities weren't utilizing the tools they already needed to tackle gun violence, such as 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

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