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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities launched legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun control package deal that might additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

The brand new laws, which resurrects some measures that had been shelved final yr amid a nationwide election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two teachers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

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"We want solely look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and gets more difficult to counter," he stated.

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, including for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and safety guards. Canadians who already own handguns would be allowed to keep them.

Authorities don't anticipate a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly because they're so heavily regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

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

The rate 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 fashions of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years ago within the wake of a mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms owners say they're contesting in court docket. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial phase" of a program to buy back and compensate homeowners of such weapons.

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

The deliberate laws would prevent anyone topic to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or keeping a firearms license.

It can also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to by no means hold greater than five rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new laws would also ban some toys that look like actual weapons, similar to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

"As a result of they appear the same as actual firearms, police must deal with 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 Association, welcomed a few of the strikes, such because the "pink flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and said he would really like more information on enforcement and resources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

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

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

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

He said authorities weren't using the tools they already had to tackle gun violence, comparable to calling folks listed as references on gun license applications.

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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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