Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a proposed freeze on handgun ownership in Canada that would, until recently, effectively ban their importation and sale. mass shooting in the United States.
The bill must still be passed by parliament, with the ruling liberals holding only a minority of seats.
“We are introducing legislation to enforce a national crackdown on handgun ownership,” Trudeau told a news conference on Monday, which was attended by dozens of families and friends of gun violence victims.
“This means that it will not be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” he said. “In other words, we are limiting the market for handguns.”
days later Canada’s worst mass shooting 23 people died in rural Nova Scotia in April 2020, government banned 1,500 types of military-grade or assault-style firearms.
But Trudeau acknowledged Monday that gun violence continues to rise.
The government statistical agency reported last week that violent crimes related to firearms account for less than three percent of all violent crimes in Canada.
But since 2009, the per capita rate of guns being pointed at someone has nearly tripled, while the rate at which a gun was fired with intent to kill or injure has increased fivefold.
Handguns were involved in about two-thirds of gun crimes in urban areas.
Police often point to smuggling from the US – which has been grappling with recent shootings at a Texas school and a supermarket in New York state – as the main source of handguns.
Reading: Don’t blame the guns: NRA supporters react to the Uvalde massacre
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino estimated that there are about a million handguns in this country – significantly more than a decade ago.
‘complicated problem’
“People should be free to go to the supermarket, their school or their place of worship without any fear,” Trudeau said.
“People should be free to go to the park or birthday party without worrying about what might happen with a stray bullet.
“Gun violence is a complex problem,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the math is actually quite simple: The fewer guns we have in our communities, the safer it is.”
New Democratic public safety critic, MP Alistair McGregor, indicated that his party would be willing to work with liberals to pass the proposed legislation.
“We want to recognize that today’s announcement on gun violence is an urgent priority and is not only another political stunt on the part of this government, but a pattern of behavior by liberals that seeks only to gain political points.” use gun violence as a means,” he said. said in a statement.
But many in the Conservative Party criticized the proposal as unhelpful.
“The real problem in this country isn’t law-abiding firearms owners who are heavily regulated, heavily licensed,” said John Brassard, a minority leader in the House of Commons. CBC,
“The real problem in this country is the gangs and criminals who are importing firearms, mostly from America, using illegal guns on our streets,” he said.
And Conservative MP Raquel Dancho, her party’s parliamentary critic for public safety, echoed the same sentiment.
“Today’s announcement fails to focus on the root causes of gun violence in our cities: illegal guns smuggled into Canada by criminal gangs,” he tweeted.
The proposed law would also debar anyone pursuing domestic violence or their firearms license, and take away guns from people who are deemed a risk to themselves or others, as well as border security and criminal charges for gun smuggling. strengthens the punishment.
It would also ban long gun magazines capable of holding more than five bullets.
Trudeau’s proposal was praised by the Coalition for Gun Control of Canada, founded in 1989 after 14 women were murdered at a university in Montreal.
“The proposal to end private handgun ownership is a big step and shows that the government is listening to the voices of the victims,” the organization’s president, Wendy Cukier, said in a statement.