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

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

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that were shelved last year amid a nationwide election, comes only a week after a gunman killed 19 children 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 do not take motion firmly and quickly it will get worse and worse and will get more difficult to counter," he stated.

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, together with for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and security guards. Canadians who already personal handguns can be allowed to keep them.

Authorities don't count on a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part because they are so closely regulated already, an official said in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun laws than the US however while its gun murder fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it's greater than that of other wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five occasions Australia's price.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since no less than 1997, in keeping with Statistics Canada.

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

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws could pass with the help of the left-leaning New Democratic Celebration.

The deliberate legislation would forestall anyone subject to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or holding a firearms license.

It should additionally 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 laws would additionally ban some toys that appear to be actual guns, similar to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more

"As a result of they appear the identical as actual firearms, police have to deal with 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 number of the strikes, such as the "pink flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would really like more data on enforcement and assets for measures such as the handgun freeze.

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

"You can not distinguish between what's a duplicate 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 pinnacle of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, stated the handgun freeze was "absurd."

He stated authorities weren't using the instruments they already had to tackle gun violence, such as 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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