Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with government officials and arms control advocates, speaks at a press conference on firearms control legislation introduced in the Ottawa House of Commons on May 30, 2022. BLAIR GABLE / Reuters
The Federal Liberals have introduced new legislation to control firearms, which will freeze the import, sale and transfer of pistols, but will not lead to a total ban.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the new legislation, Bill C-21, at a news conference Monday. The measures will allow existing owners to keep their weapons.
Asked why the government did not propose a ban, Mr Trudeau said the bill would provide “significant tools” to reduce gun numbers in communities and protect people from gun violence. “This is a concrete and real national measure that will go a long way toward maintaining the safety of Canadians,” he said.
Proponents of gun control say the new legislation is only the first time a step towards reducing gun violence in Canada.
Bill C-21 will also allow for the automatic revocation of gun licenses from people who have committed domestic violence or participated in criminal harassment, such as persecution. And that will create a new “red flag” law that will allow courts to require people who are considered a danger to themselves or others to turn their firearms over to the police.
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Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino told a news conference that the government was also committed to introducing a mandatory offensive weapons repurchase program. He said the details would be announced after consulting with the industry.
The Liberals promised to introduce a mandatory redemption program during the 2021 election campaign.
The government promised on Monday to ensure that such firearms are automatically banned when they enter the market in the future. “We will continue to work to ensure that all new weapons that meet the definition of attack-style weapons are seized.” This is stated in a statement by the Prime Minister.
The buyout plan has won praise from gun control advocates, but Conservative lawmakers and others who oppose the idea have suggested it targets legitimate gun owners instead of preventing illegal firearms from falling into the wrong hands.
The government has been promising action on firearms for some time. Mr Mendicino said in March that the government would introduce “very proactive” firearms legislation.
Two years ago, the government announced a ban on more than 1,500 models and variants of firearms it considers an attack. And during the 2019 election campaign, the Liberals promised a program to buy back “all military-style assault rifles legally purchased in Canada.”
But in 2021, the government introduced a previous arms control bill, also called C-21, that would introduce a voluntary – not mandatory – offensive weapons repurchase program.
The bill would also allow municipalities to ban guns and create a crime to increase the size of gun shops beyond legal limits. The legislation disappeared in the procurement document when federal elections were called last August.
At a press conference on Monday, Mr Mendicino said the government had amended the Firearms Act to bring into force arms bans as soon as possible. A statement issued announcing the new bill said the provisions would take effect in the fall of 2022. Both the minister and the prime minister said they hoped opposition parties would help speed up the passage of legislation.
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The new bill comes amid heightened attention to gun violence, following mass shootings this month in Uwalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. Liberals warned in their election platform in 2021 that “American-style gun violence is on the rise.” Canada.
On Friday, Statistics Canada reported that violent crime involving firearms increased from 2013 to 2019, after several years of decline. In 2020, there were 29 victims of violent gun crimes per 100,000 people in Canada, compared to 19 victims in 2013, according to police reports.
Natalie Prevost, a spokeswoman for the PolySeSouvient Arms Control Advocacy Group, said after Monday’s press conference that freezing the gun was a good first step.
“This is a great victory for those who believe in gun control in Canada. It’s a federal freeze, not just a freeze, “she said.” It’s very, very important. We do not need to diminish the importance of this decision. “Ms Prevost was shot four times in 1989 when a gunman stormed the École Polytechnique in Montreal and killed 14 women.
Claire Price, whose teenage daughter Samantha was among 13 people shot and wounded in 2018 by gunmen in the Danforth area of Toronto, said she was surprised by the gun action. “I did not expect any announcement to freeze the sale of pistols,” she said. “I should have heard those words now.”
“There is always more to do,” she added. “It’s definitely just a piece of a big puzzle.”
Blake Brown, a professor at St. Mary’s University and author of a book on the history of weapons in Canada, said it would probably take months, if not years, to bring about this flow of change if the legislation is passed. After the Federal Firearms Act of 1995 reached a royal agreement, he noted, it took years before the gun licensing regime he introduced was fully implemented.
Prof. Brown pointed out that freezing the sale of pistols is a much cheaper approach than banning and repurchasing approximately one million of them registered to people across the country.
He added that a multilateral approach is needed to tackle gun violence, including the interception of more illegal weapons passing north of the United States.
Police services across the country provide a package of information on weapons used in violent crime. These figures suggest the majority of firearms not legally purchased or stolen from licensed Canadian gun owners, but rather smuggled in from the United States
“You can’t fix this: you can’t snap your fingers and spend a little money and make sure no weapons ever cross the border,” said Professor Brown.
Mr. Mendicino he told reporters on Monday that 55,000 new pistols are registered each year.
That’s roughly how many new weapons are likely to be purchased in the next few months by enthusiasts fearing an impending freeze, according to Rod Giltaka, chief executive of the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights Rights.
Mr Giltaka said gun owners in the country’s 1,400 arms clubs were part of a very serious culture that Ottawa was wrongly targeting in its efforts to reduce violence and increase public safety.
AJ Somerset, a hunter and ex-soldier from Windsor, Ont., Who is also the author of a book on gun culture in North America, said gun control was valuable and worked, but that government-proposed measures would not necessarily stop the violence. harassing several cities.
Ottawa could better address the problem of gang violence by providing more funding and services to alleviate urban poverty, Mr Somerset said. He added that the federal government could also legalize some drugs to reduce illegal market violence.
Federal Conservatives have expressed reservations about the legislation.
Raquel Dancho, a critic of the party’s public safety, said in a statement that gun crime is on the rise every year, despite existing restrictions.
Some mayors said they were hoping for more action on the guns.
“Today’s announcement of a national arms freeze is a big step in the right direction, although it must be accompanied by tighter border measures, tougher penalties and investment in anti-violence programs,” Toronto Mayor John Torrey said in a statement. .
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said the proposed new measures would make her city and others safer.
“We hope that the step taken today by the Canadian government will lead to a total ban on guns and their removal from our streets and from the hands of young people,” she wrote on Twitter.
With a report from The Canadian Press
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