Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday a proposal to suspend the possession of personal weapons in his country, effectively banning their import and sale following mass shootings in the United States.
Parliament will have to pass the bill, given that the ruling Liberal Party is a minority in the assembly. “We will pass legislation to impose a nationwide moratorium on individual gun ownership,” Trudeau said at a press conference, along with dozens of relatives and friends of victims of gun violence. “This means that individual weapons can no longer be bought, sold, transferred or imported anywhere in Canada… in other words, we will end the individual weapons market,” he added.
Days after 23 people were killed in Nova Scotia’s largest gun battle in April 2020 in Nova Scotia, the government banned 1,500 offensive or combat firearms. But on Monday, Trudeau acknowledged that gun violence is on the rise. A report from the state statistics agency last week said that violent crimes involving the use of firearms account for less than three percent of all violent crimes committed in Canada. But since 2009, the number of firearms fired at a person per capita has tripled, and the number of shots fired to kill or injure has increased fivefold. About two-thirds of urban firearms offenses involve individual weapons.
Police often point to contraband from the United States, still traumatized by recent shootings at a Texas school and a New York state store, as the main source of individual weapons.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has estimated that there are about a million guns in Canada, significantly more than the number recorded ten years ago.
Trudeau stressed: “People should be able to freely go to a supermarket, school or place of worship without fear. People should be able to freely walk to a park or a birthday party without worrying about what might happen as a result of a stray bullet. “
“The issue of gun violence is complex… but at the end of the day, it’s based on simple math: Everyone would be safer if the number of guns in our society were reduced,” he added.
The proposed law would revoke a firearms license from anyone involved in domestic violence or stalking. It also deprives firearms of people deemed dangerous to themselves or others by the authorities, as well as strengthens border security and increases criminal penalties for gun smuggling. The bill also bans long magazines of ammunition that can hold more than five bullets.
