Canada will limit the small arms market with a new law


TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government introduced legislation Monday that would freeze the import, purchase or sale of firearms.

“We are limiting the number of firearms in this country,” Trudeau said.

Regulations to stem the growth of personal handguns are expected to be enacted this fall.

“It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import firearms anywhere in Canada,” the prime minister said. Families of the shooting victims joined him at a news conference in Ottawa.

Canada already has plans to ban 1,500 types of military-style firearms and offer a mandatory buyback program starting at the end of the year. Trudeau said that if someone really wants to keep their assault weapon, it will be rendered completely inoperable.

Canada has already expanded background checks.

Trudeau has long had plans to enact tougher gun laws, but the new measure’s introduction comes after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, this month.

Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino called the legislation the most significant step Canada has taken in a generation.

“Countries that do a good job of controlling guns do a good job of controlling gun violence,” Mendicino said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Bill Blair, minister for emergency preparedness, said Canada is very different from the United States.

“In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right,” Blair said. “This is a principle that differentiates us from many other countries in the world, in particular from our colleagues and friends from the south.”

Canada has had far fewer mass shootings than the US in part due to a lack of easy access to guns, although the US population is also much larger than Canada’s.

Blair noted that the weapons are often illegally smuggled in from the US, which he said has one of the world’s largest small arms stockpiles.

The government plans to combat gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing criminal penalties, providing more tools to investigate gun crime and strengthening border measures. Trudeau said the increased funding has already helped border officials double the number of smuggled weapons seized at the US border.

The government also said the bill would also allow gun licenses to be withdrawn from people involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking.

The bill would create a new “red flag” law that would allow courts to require that people deemed a danger to themselves or others turn over their firearms to police. The government said the move would protect the safety of those who apply during the process, often women at risk of domestic abuse, by protecting their identities.

The government said it will require magazines on rifles to be permanently modified so they can never hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of high-capacity magazines under the Penal Code.

“Canada can teach us a lot,” tweeted Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador to Canada under the Obama administration.

Trudeau said his government recognizes that the vast majority of Canadians who own guns are responsible, but the level of gun violence is unacceptable. Mendicino said that they are aware that the announcement could generate a race to buy weapons before the law is enacted and urged Parliament to approve it as soon as possible.

It is assured that the new measures will be approved in the Parliament of Canada, since the ruling Liberals and the New Democrats of the left opposition have enough votes.

Pierre Poilievre, who is running to be leader of the Conservative Party, said law-abiding gun owners must be respected and dangerous criminals must be jailed.

“Other than using firearms for sport shooting and hunting, there is no reason why anyone in Canada should need guns in their daily lives,” Trudeau said. “We need less gun violence.

“We cannot allow the gun debate to become so polarized that nothing gets done. We cannot allow that to happen in our country. This is about freedom. People should be free to go to the supermarket, their school or their place of worship without fear.”



Reference-apnews.com

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