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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced laws Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management package that may additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be guns.

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters the brand new measures were needed as gun violence was increasing.

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

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

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

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the United States however while its gun murder price is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it is greater than that of different wealthy nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's charge.

The speed in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 1997, in response to 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 in the wake of a mass taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms homeowners say they are contesting in court docket. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial part" of a program to buy again and compensate homeowners of such weapons.

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

The deliberate legislation would prevent anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or keeping a firearms license.

It's going to also require long-gun magazines to be completely altered to allow them to never hold greater than 5 rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would additionally ban some toys that appear to be actual weapons, akin to airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read more

"As a result of they appear the identical as actual firearms, police have to treat them as if they're real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti advised reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a few of the moves, such as the "purple flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and mentioned he would love extra info on enforcement and assets for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux guns, which he mentioned had been a "big challenge."

"You can't distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He stated authorities weren't using the tools they already had to deal with gun violence, equivalent to calling individuals 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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