Canada has decided to make the sale of pistols illegal under a new new bill introduced in Ottawa on Monday after the shooting at a school in Uwalde, Texas.
Accompanied by government officials and defenders, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a “national freeze” on the country’s firearms, citing growing killings in Canada and hinting at recent mass shootings south of the border.
“It will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import guns anywhere in Canada. In other words, we are restricting the market for pistols, “Trudeau said.
“People should be free to go to the supermarket, school or place of worship without fear.”
The law is almost guaranteed to be approved by the Canadian Parliament and is expected to be passed this fall. The country has already unveiled plans to ban 1,500 military-style firearms and implement a mandatory high-capacity weapons repurchase program.
Trudeau has long said that reducing gun violence in the country is a political priority, but his new legislation came less than a week after the shooting at Rob Elementary School and soon after a rampage at a Buffalo supermarket near the Ontario border.
The homicide rate in Canada has increased in recent years with 743 homicides in 2020. Getty Images / Tim Krochak
“In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right,” said Bill Blair, the emergency preparedness minister.
“This is a principle that sets us apart from many other countries around the world, especially our colleagues and friends in the south. In Canada, weapons are only for hunting and sports.
According to the law, American arms smugglers will be subjected to more severe penalties and the authorities will have more resources to deal with weapons that cross the border.
Those convicted of domestic violence or criminal harassment will also lose their weapons licenses, and the red flag provision will require people considered a danger to the judiciary to surrender their weapons. Rifle magazines must be constantly changed to hold a maximum of five rounds per account.
President Joe Biden has called on lawmakers to make changes to gun reform. Ron Sachs / CNP / SplashNews.com
“These are actions that doctors, experts and police chiefs have been calling for for years, and we are acting on their advice,” Trudeau said.
The homicide rate in Canada has risen in recent years to 743 homicides in 2020, the highest since 1991, according to government statistics. That same year, a mass shooting in Nova Scotia killed 22 people.
Tuesday’s tragedy in Texas prompted President Biden to call on US lawmakers to take action to reform gun control.
“As a nation, we must ask ourselves when, for God’s sake, will we face the arms lobby?” When in the name of God will we do what we all know needs to be done? ”Biden said last week.
With AP wires
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