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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management package that would also limit journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be guns.

The new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final yr 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 advised reporters the new measures were wanted as gun violence was growing.

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"We need only look south of the border to know that if we don't take motion firmly and rapidly it will get worse and worse and will get tougher to counter," he stated.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the USA however whereas its gun murder rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it's increased than that of different rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five times Australia's charge.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 1997, in line with 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 homeowners say they're contesting in court docket. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" of a program to buy again and compensate owners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws might go with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

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

It's going to also require long-gun magazines to be completely altered to allow them to by no means hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new laws would additionally ban some toys that appear to be real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

"Because they appear the same as real firearms, police must deal with them as if they're real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the moves, such because the "pink flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would really like extra info on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

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

"You can't distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's an actual firearm, particularly when these incidences involving duplicate firearms occur often in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not utilizing the instruments they already needed to tackle gun violence, reminiscent of calling folks 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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.