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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as part of a gun management bundle that would additionally restrict magazine capacities and ban some toys that appear like weapons.

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

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

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"We want 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 harder to counter," he said.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the United States however whereas its gun homicide fee is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's increased than that of different rich countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five occasions Australia's charge.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at the very least 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 in the wake of a mass shooting 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 preliminary phase" of a program to buy again and compensate house owners of such weapons.

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

The deliberate laws would prevent anyone topic to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or protecting a firearms license.

It's going to additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never hold greater than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would additionally ban some toys that seem like real guns, resembling airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn more

"Because they appear the identical as real firearms, police need to deal with them as if they're actual. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a few of the moves, such because the "pink flag" provisions within the case of domestic violence, and stated he would like more data on enforcement and resources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

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

"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's an actual firearm, particularly when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen typically in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."

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

He said authorities weren't utilizing the tools they already had to deal with gun violence, corresponding 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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.