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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management bundle that will also limit journal capacities and ban some toys that seem like guns.

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final year amid a national election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed reporters the brand new measures were needed 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 more difficult to counter," he mentioned.

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

Authorities do not count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part because they're so closely regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the United States but while its gun murder charge is less than one-fifth the U.S. rate it's higher than that of other rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's fee.

The rate in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since no less than 1997, in line with Statistics Canada.

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

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation could pass with the help of the left-leaning New Democratic Social gathering.

The planned legislation would prevent anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or keeping a firearms license.

It would also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to by no means hold more than 5 rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that look like actual weapons, such as airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

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

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed some of the moves, such because the "pink flag" provisions within the case of domestic violence, and said he would really like more information on enforcement and assets for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he mentioned had been a "large problem."

"You can't distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, significantly when these incidences involving reproduction 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 stated authorities weren't using the instruments they already needed to deal with gun violence, corresponding to calling individuals listed as references on gun license functions.

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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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