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

OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canada's government introduced laws Monday to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun control bundle that will also restrict journal capacities and ban some toys that seem like guns.

The new laws, which resurrects some measures that have been shelved last year amid a nationwide election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two lecturers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed reporters the brand new measures have been 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 motion firmly and quickly it gets worse and worse and gets harder to counter," he mentioned.

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 anticipate 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 laws than the United States however while its gun homicide rate is lower than one-fifth the U.S. fee it's higher than that of other rich nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 occasions Australia's charge.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since a minimum of 1997, in response to Statistics Canada.

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years ago in the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms homeowners say they are contesting in court. Talking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary section" of a program to buy again and compensate homeowners of such weapons.

While the Liberals have a minority of seats in Parliament, the laws might pass with the help of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

The deliberate laws would forestall anybody topic to a protection order or who has engaged in home violence or stalking from acquiring or keeping a firearms license.

It'll also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can never maintain more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

The brand new legal guidelines would additionally ban some toys that seem like actual weapons, reminiscent of airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"Because they appear the identical as actual firearms, police must treat them as if they're real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti informed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed a few of the strikes, such as the "red flag" provisions within the case of domestic violence, and mentioned he would like extra info on enforcement and resources 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 duplicate firearm and what's an actual firearm, notably when these incidences involving reproduction 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 were not using the instruments they already had to sort out gun violence, reminiscent of 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, Enhancing by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

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