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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management bundle that would additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that look like weapons.

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

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

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"We'd like solely look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and quickly 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 safety guards. Canadians who already own handguns can be allowed to keep them.

Authorities do not expect a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part because they're so heavily regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US however while its gun homicide fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's larger than that of different wealthy nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's price.

The speed in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since a minimum of 1997, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 fashions of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past within the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they are contesting in court docket. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary part" of a program to buy back and compensate homeowners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation could go with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Social gathering.

The planned laws would prevent anyone topic to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or preserving a firearms license.

It is going to additionally require long-gun magazines to be completely altered so they can never 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 real guns, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they give the impression of being the same as real firearms, police must treat them as if they are actual. 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 moves, such as the "purple flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and mentioned he would really like extra data on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on pretend weapons, which he stated were a "massive challenge."

"You cannot distinguish between what's a duplicate firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving reproduction firearms occur often in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities weren't utilizing the instruments they already had to sort out gun violence, equivalent to 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, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

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