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

OTTAWA, Could 30 (Reuters) - Canada's authorities introduced legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun control bundle that will also limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that appear to be guns.

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed reporters the new measures were needed as gun violence was rising.

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"We need only look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and rapidly it will get worse and worse and gets more difficult to counter," he stated.

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

Authorities do not expect a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part as a result of they are so closely regulated already, an official stated in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US however whereas its gun homicide fee is lower than one-fifth the U.S. price it's larger than that of other wealthy countries and has been rising. In 2020 it was five instances Australia's price.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 1997, in keeping with Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 fashions of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past in the wake of a mass taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms homeowners say they're contesting in courtroom. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary section" of a program to buy back and compensate house owners of such weapons.

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

The planned laws would stop anybody subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or keeping a firearms license.

It should also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can by no means hold more than five rounds and can ban the sale and switch of large-capacity magazines.

The new laws would additionally ban some toys that appear to be real guns, reminiscent of airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read extra

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

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed some of the strikes, such because the "purple flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would really like more data on enforcement and resources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on pretend weapons, which he stated had been a "huge problem."

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

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

He stated authorities were not utilizing the tools they already needed to deal with gun violence, resembling calling folks listed as references on gun license functions.

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

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