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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities launched legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun management bundle that will additionally limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that seem like guns.

The new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final 12 months amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two academics in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

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"We want solely look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and quickly it gets worse and worse and gets tougher to counter," he stated.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the US but whereas its gun homicide rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's increased than that of different wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five instances Australia's price.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since at the very least 1997, in line with Statistics Canada.

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

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

The deliberate legislation would stop anybody subject to a safety order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from obtaining or retaining a firearms license.

It will additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never maintain greater than five rounds and will ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that appear to be real guns, resembling airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. learn more

"As a result of they appear the identical as real firearms, police have to treat them as if they're 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 strikes, such as the "purple flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would love more data on enforcement and sources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux guns, which he stated have been a "large problem."

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

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

He mentioned authorities were not utilizing the tools they already needed to sort out gun violence, reminiscent of 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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