Canada introduces regulation to freeze handgun 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 part of a gun control package that may additionally restrict magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

The new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved last year amid a national election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two lecturers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

Register

"We want 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 tougher to counter," he stated.

The handgun freeze would contain exceptions, including for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and security guards. Canadians who already personal handguns could be allowed to keep them.

Authorities don't count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, partly as a result of they're so closely regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

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

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since at the least 1997, in accordance with Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past in the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms house owners say they're contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to purchase again and compensate owners 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 Celebration.

The deliberate laws would stop anybody subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or preserving a firearms license.

It is going to also require long-gun magazines to be completely altered so they can never maintain more than five rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

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

"Because they appear the identical as actual firearms, police have to deal with them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti advised reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a few of the strikes, such because the "pink flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would love more info on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

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

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

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

He stated authorities were not utilizing the instruments they already had to deal with gun violence, equivalent to calling individuals listed as references on gun license applications.

Register

Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.