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 buy of handguns as part of a gun control package that may also limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like weapons.

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that were shelved final yr amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two academics in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters the brand new measures have been 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 more difficult to counter," he mentioned.

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, together with 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, in part as a result of they're so closely regulated already, an official said in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than america however whereas its gun murder price is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's higher than that of different rich nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 instances Australia's rate.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since a minimum of 1997, in line with Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years ago in the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms owners say they are contesting in courtroom. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" of a program to buy back and compensate owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation may move with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Celebration.

The deliberate legislation would forestall anybody topic to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or conserving a firearms license.

It can also require long-gun magazines to be completely altered to allow them to never maintain greater than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new legal guidelines would additionally ban some toys that look like real guns, resembling airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

"Because they give the impression of being the same as actual firearms, police need to treat them as if they are actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed among the moves, such because the "crimson flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and mentioned he would like more info on enforcement and sources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on pretend weapons, which he stated had been a "huge problem."

"You can not distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, significantly when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen usually in very dynamic, shortly evolving circumstances."

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

He said authorities were not using the tools they already had to sort out gun violence, similar to calling individuals listed as references on gun license functions.

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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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