After the latest mass shooting in America, action is being taken to implement gun reform. But not in America — in neighboring Canada.
Canada introduced legislation to implement a “national freeze” on the sale and purchase of handguns as part of a gun-control package. The laws would also limit magazine capacities, and ban some toys that look like guns.
The new legislation resurrects some measures that were shelved in 2021 amid a national election. The proposed legislation comes one week after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in their classroom.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the new measures were needed as gun violence is increasing, and that the shootings in America show action needs to be taken before gun violence gets worse and harder to counter.
“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,” Trudeau said.
The freeze on handguns would contain exceptions, including for elite sports shooters, security guards, and Olympic athletes. Canadians who already own handguns would be allowed to keep them.
The new laws would prevent anyone subject to a protection order or who has committed domestic violence or stalking from obtaining or keeping a firearms license. It would also require long-gun magazines to be permanently changed so that they cannot hold more than five rounds. The sale and transfer of large magazines would be banned.
Toys that look like real guns, like airlift rifles, would also be banned because they look the same as real firearms.
Handguns are already heavily regulated in Canada. The country has much stronger gun legislation than the United States. Canada banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, including weapons like the AR-15 rifle, two years ago after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia.
Canada has a gun homicide rate of less than one-fifth of the U.S. rate.
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