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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as a part of a gun management package that would also restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be weapons.

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

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

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"We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take motion firmly and quickly it gets worse and worse and will get harder to counter," he stated.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the United States but while its gun homicide rate is lower than one-fifth the U.S. price it is increased than that of other wealthy international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 times Australia's fee.

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

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, 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 court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary phase" of a program to buy again and compensate owners of such weapons.

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

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

It should additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can never maintain more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that seem like actual guns, equivalent to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. learn more

"Because they give the impression of being the same as actual firearms, police must deal with 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 because the "crimson flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and stated he would like more info on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux guns, which he stated had been a "huge 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 usually in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not using the instruments they already needed to tackle gun violence, reminiscent of 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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