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

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

The brand 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 academics of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed reporters the new measures had been wanted as gun violence was rising.

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

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

Authorities don't expect a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partially as a result of they're so heavily regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun laws than the United States but whereas its gun homicide price is lower than one-fifth the U.S. price it's larger than that of different rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five times Australia's fee.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since a minimum of 1997, based on 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 shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms house owners say they're contesting in courtroom. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial section" 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 Social gathering.

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

It should also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never maintain more than 5 rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that appear like real weapons, akin to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more

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

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed among the strikes, such as the "purple flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and stated he would really like more info on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

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

"You cannot distinguish between what's a duplicate firearm and what's an actual firearm, notably when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen typically in very dynamic, rapidly 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 instruments they already needed to deal with gun violence, equivalent 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, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

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