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

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

The brand new legislation, which resurrects some measures that were shelved final year amid a nationwide election, comes only 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 had been 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 motion firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and will get more difficult to counter," he stated.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than america but while its gun murder charge is less than one-fifth the U.S. rate it's increased than that of other wealthy international locations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's fee.

The speed in every of 2020 and 2017 was the nation's highest since at the very least 1997, in accordance 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 in the past within the wake of a mass taking pictures in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a move some firearms homeowners say they are contesting in court docket. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial section" of a program to purchase again and compensate house owners of such weapons.

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

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

It would also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered to allow them to never maintain more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The new legal guidelines would additionally ban some toys that seem like actual guns, resembling airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read more

"As a result of they give the impression of being the identical as real firearms, police have to deal with them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

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

He completely supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he stated were a "big challenge."

"You can not distinguish between what's a duplicate firearm and what's a real firearm, notably when these incidences involving duplicate firearms occur often in very dynamic, rapidly evolving circumstances."

Rod Giltaca, the top 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 tackle gun violence, comparable to calling folks listed as references on gun license purposes.

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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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