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

OTTAWA, Might 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as a part of a gun control bundle that might additionally restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that appear to be guns.

The new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved last year 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 instructed reporters the brand new measures had been needed as gun violence was increasing.

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

The handgun freeze would comprise exceptions, together with for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and safety guards. Canadians who already own handguns can be allowed to maintain them.

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

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

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

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 fashions of assault weapons, just like the AR-15 rifle, two years ago within the wake of a mass taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms homeowners say they are contesting in court. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial phase" of a program to purchase back and compensate house owners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the legislation may go with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

The planned laws would prevent anybody subject to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or protecting a firearms license.

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

The brand new legal guidelines would also ban some toys that appear to be real guns, comparable to airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. learn more

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

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed a few of the moves, such because the "pink flag" provisions within the case of home violence, and said he would like more information on enforcement and sources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

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

"You can't distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving reproduction firearms happen typically in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

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

He stated authorities weren't using the instruments they already had to sort out gun violence, similar to calling folks 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

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