Canada to freeze gun sales, ban lookalike toys

OTTAWA • Canada's government has introduced legislation to implement a "national freeze" on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun control package that would also limit magazine capacities and ban some toys that look like guns.

The legislation, which resurrects some measures shelved last year amid a national election, comes just a week after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Monday the measures were needed as gun violence was rising: "We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and gets more difficult to counter."

The handgun freeze would contain exceptions, including for elite sport shooters, Olympic athletes and security guards. Canadians who already own handguns would be allowed to keep them. A run on handguns in anticipation of the freeze is not expected, in part because they are heavily regulated already, an official said in a briefing.

Canada has stronger gun legislation than the United States but while its gun homicide rate is less than one-fifth the US rate, it is higher than that of other rich countries and has been rising. In 2020, it was five times Australia's rate.

The rate in each of 2020 and 2017 was the country's highest since at least 1997, said Statistics Canada. Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons two years ago in the wake of a mass shooting in Nova Scotia - a move some firearms owners say they are contesting in court.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has confirmed the "imminent launch of the initial phase" of a plan to buy back and compensate owners of such weapons.

REUTERS