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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government launched legislation Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and buy of handguns as part of a gun control package that may also restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that seem like weapons.

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved final 12 months amid a national election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two lecturers of their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

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

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

The handgun freeze would include exceptions, together with for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and security guards. Canadians who already personal handguns would be allowed to maintain them.

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

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the United States but while its gun murder price is less than one-fifth the U.S. price it's larger than that of other rich international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 instances Australia's price.

The speed in each of 2020 and 2017 was the nation'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 in the past within the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms house owners say they're contesting in courtroom. Talking 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.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws might go with the support of the left-leaning New Democratic Occasion.

The deliberate legislation would forestall anybody subject to a protection order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or maintaining a firearms license.

It would additionally require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never hold greater than 5 rounds and can ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new laws would also ban some toys that appear like actual guns, reminiscent of airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"As a result of they look the identical as actual firearms, police have to treat them as if they're actual. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed some of the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and stated he would really like more information on enforcement and sources for measures such because the handgun freeze.

He utterly supported a crackdown on fake weapons, which he stated had been a "large challenge."

"You can not distinguish between what's a reproduction firearm and what's an actual firearm, notably when these incidences involving replica firearms occur typically in very dynamic, shortly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities were not utilizing the tools they already had to deal with gun violence, akin to 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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