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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities launched laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun control package deal that would additionally restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that appear like guns.

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed reporters the new measures were needed as gun violence was growing.

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"We'd like only look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and rapidly it will get worse and worse and gets more difficult to counter," he said.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the United States but whereas its gun murder rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's greater than that of other rich nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was five instances Australia's charge.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since no less than 1997, in accordance 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 house owners say they are contesting in courtroom. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial section" of a program to purchase back and compensate house owners of such weapons.

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws might cross with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Social gathering.

The planned laws would forestall anybody topic to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or retaining a firearms license.

It is going to also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to by no means maintain more than five rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that seem like real guns, corresponding to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they look 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 informed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a few of the moves, such as the "pink flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would really like extra information on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he mentioned had been a "huge problem."

"You can not distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving duplicate firearms happen typically in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities weren't utilizing the tools they already had to sort out gun violence, equivalent to calling people 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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