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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced legislation Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management bundle that might additionally restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that appear like weapons.

The brand new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final year amid a national 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 were needed 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 motion firmly and quickly it gets worse and worse and will get harder to counter," he stated.

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, including 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 mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US but while its gun murder price is lower than one-fifth the U.S. price it is increased than that of other rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five instances Australia's fee.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at least 1997, in line 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 taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms owners say they are contesting in court docket. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" 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 might move with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Occasion.

The deliberate laws would forestall anyone topic to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or preserving a firearms license.

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

The brand new laws would also ban some toys that seem like actual guns, akin to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they look the identical as actual firearms, police have to deal with them as if they're real. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a few of the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions within the case of domestic violence, and mentioned he would really like extra information on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on faux guns, which he said had been a "big problem."

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

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

He mentioned authorities were not using the tools they already had to sort out gun violence, resembling calling people listed as references on gun license purposes.

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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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