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

OTTAWA, May 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 control bundle that would additionally limit journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be guns.

The brand new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final yr amid a national election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 kids and two teachers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the brand new measures were wanted as gun violence was rising.

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"We'd like solely look south of the border to know that if we don't take action firmly and quickly it gets worse and worse and will get 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 do not anticipate a run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze, in part because they're so closely regulated already, an official mentioned in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the US but while its gun murder charge is less than one-fifth the U.S. charge it is larger than that of other rich nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was five times Australia's rate.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since not less than 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. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial phase" of a program to purchase again and compensate house owners of such weapons.

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

The planned legislation would stop anyone subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or conserving a firearms license.

It should additionally require long-gun magazines to be completely altered so they can never maintain more than 5 rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new laws would additionally ban some toys that seem like actual weapons, equivalent to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read more

"Because they give the impression of being the identical as real firearms, police must deal with 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 a few of the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and said he would really like extra data on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on faux guns, which he said have been a "big challenge."

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

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

He mentioned authorities weren't using the instruments they already had to deal with gun violence, corresponding 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, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

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