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

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

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed reporters the new measures have been needed as gun violence was growing.

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"We want 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 tougher to counter," he said.

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

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

Canada has stronger gun laws than the USA but while its gun murder rate is less than one-fifth the U.S. rate it is increased than that of different rich nations and has been rising. In 2020 it was 5 times Australia's charge.

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

Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 fashions of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, two years in the past in the wake of a mass capturing in Portapique, Nova Scotia - a transfer some firearms homeowners say they're contesting in court docket. Speaking alongside Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed the "imminent launch of the preliminary 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 could go with the assist of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

The deliberate laws would prevent anybody topic to a safety order or who has engaged in domestic violence or stalking from acquiring or conserving a firearms license.

It will 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 look like real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Final week Toronto police shot and killed a person carrying a pellet gun. read extra

"Because they look the same as real firearms, police must deal with them as if they are actual. This has led to tragic penalties," Justice Minister David Lametti instructed reporters.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Affiliation, welcomed among the strikes, such because the "red flag" provisions in the case of home violence, and stated he would love more data on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.

He fully supported a crackdown on faux weapons, which he stated have been a "large problem."

"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's an actual firearm, particularly when these incidences involving duplicate firearms happen typically in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."

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

He mentioned authorities weren't utilizing the tools they already needed to deal with gun violence, resembling 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, Enhancing by Rosalba O'Brien and Richard Pullin

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