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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced legislation Monday to implement a "nationwide freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun control package that may additionally limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised reporters the brand new measures had been 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 gets worse and worse and gets tougher to counter," he mentioned.

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

Authorities do not anticipate a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part because they're so heavily regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

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

The rate in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since a minimum of 1997, based on Statistics Canada.

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

Whereas the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws may pass with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Get together.

The planned laws would forestall anybody subject to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or holding a firearms license.

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

The brand 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 man carrying a pellet gun. learn extra

"Because they give the impression of being the identical as actual firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and mentioned he would like extra data on enforcement and sources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He completely supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he stated have been a "massive challenge."

"You can't distinguish between what's a duplicate firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen 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 had to tackle gun violence, akin to calling people listed as references on gun license applications.

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.