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

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun control package that may also restrict magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like weapons.

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the new measures were wanted as gun violence was rising.

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"We want only look south of the border to know that if we do not take motion firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and gets tougher 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 keep them.

Authorities don't count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly because 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 charge is lower than one-fifth the U.S. price it is increased than that of other wealthy international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was five occasions Australia's charge.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 1997, in accordance 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 taking pictures 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 initial section" 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 may go with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Social gathering.

The deliberate laws would forestall anybody topic to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or retaining a firearms license.

It should also require long-gun magazines to be completely altered so they can never hold more than 5 rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new laws would also ban some toys that appear to be real guns, resembling airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"Because they give the impression of being the identical as real firearms, police have to treat them as if they're actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti advised reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a number of the moves, such because the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and stated he would like more info on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on fake weapons, which he stated had been a "big challenge."

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

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

He stated authorities were not using the instruments they already needed to sort out gun violence, akin to calling individuals 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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