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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase 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 laws, which resurrects some measures that were shelved last 12 months amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two lecturers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters the brand new measures have been needed 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 action firmly and quickly it will get worse and worse and gets 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 can be allowed to maintain them.

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

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the USA but whereas its gun homicide price is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it's higher than that of different wealthy international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was five occasions Australia's fee.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at the very least 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 ago within the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they are contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary section" of a program to buy back and compensate owners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation might move with the help of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

The planned laws would prevent anybody subject to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or holding a firearms license.

It's going to additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never maintain greater than 5 rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new laws would additionally ban some toys that look like real guns, reminiscent of airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they appear the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

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

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

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

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

He said authorities weren't using the tools they already had to deal with gun violence, resembling calling individuals listed as references on gun license purposes.

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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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