Explained: Canada’s new law to ban handgun sales

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government introduced legislation Monday that would put a freeze on importing, buying, or selling handguns.

“We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” Trudeau said.

The regulations to halt the growth of personally owned handguns are expected to be enacted this fall.

The announcement is the latest in a series of measures taken by the Canadian government to restrict the sale of firearms since the 2020 shooting in the Nova Scotia province that claimed 22 lives. After the attack, the government banned 1,500 types of military-grade and assault-style firearms.

While talking to the media, Trudeau spoke about mass shootings in Canada over the past decades and the recent attacks in the United States.

“Gun violence is a complex problem, but at the end of the day, the math is really quite simple. The fewer the guns in our communities, the safer everyone will be,” he said.

What the new law means

According to the new legislation, it will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada.

The government also said the bill would also allow for the removal of gun licences from people involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking.

It would create a new “red flag” law allowing courts to require that people considered a danger to themselves or others surrender their firearms to police. The government said the measure would guard the safety of those applying through the process, often women in danger of domestic abuse, by protecting their identities.

According to the government, the law will require rifle magazines to be permanently altered so they can never hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines under the Criminal Code, reports The Associated Press.

Are the Canadian gun laws strict enough?

Canada has stricter ownership restrictions than the United States. Other than the ban on military-style firearms, it offers a mandatory buyback programme that will begin at the end of the year. Trudeau said if someone really wants to keep their assault weapon it will be made completely inoperable.

Canada already has expanded background checks and rules mandate that guns be kept locked and unloaded.

However, experts believe that the laws are not enough to curb the violence which is rampant in the United States.

Trudeau has long had plans to enact tougher gun laws but the introduction of the new measure comes after mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo this month.

In Canada, hunting is common and the country has one of the world’s highest per-capita gun ownership. According to the 2018 Small Arms Survey, there are an estimated 34.7 firearms per 100 people. Canada still trails far behind its southern neighbour, both in gun ownership rates and firearms-related incidents, reports Guardian.

The country does not have any “open carry” laws. All gun owners must have a licence and all handguns and most semi-automatic weapons must be registered with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Yet, there are gaps in the system. “You don’t just need legislation to tell you what kinds of guns and ammunition you can own. You also need institutions to have the ability to educate and to intervene,” Ken Price, a gun control advocate whose daughter Samantha was injured in a 2018 mass shooting in Toronto that killed two and left 13 injured told Guardian. “Police should be able to move swiftly and take weapons away when they suspect there’s a risk.”

Will the new law change things?

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino called the new legislation the most significant step Canada has taken in a generation “Countries that do a good job of controlling guns do a good job of controlling gun violence,” Mendicino said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Bill Blair, minister of emergency preparedness, said Canada is very different from the United States. “In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege not a right,” Blair said. “This is a principle that differentiates ourselves from many other countries in the world, notably our colleagues and friends to the south.”

Canada has had far fewer mass shootings than the US in part because of a lack of easy access to guns, though the US population also is far larger than Canada’s.

Blair noted guns are often smuggled in illegally from the US, which he noted has one of the largest small arms arsenals in the world.

The government plans to fight gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing criminal penalties, providing more tools to investigate firearms crimes and strengthening border measures. Trudeau said that increased funding already helped border officials double the amount of smuggled guns confiscated at the US border.

Trudeau said that his government recognises the vast majority of Canadians who own guns are responsible but the level of gun violence is unacceptable.

Mendicino said they are aware the announcement could lead to a rush to buy guns before the law is enacted and urged Parliament to pass it as soon as possible.

The new measures are assured of passing in Canada’s Parliament as the ruling Liberals and leftist opposition New Democrats have enough votes.

“Other than using firearms for sport shooting and hunting, there is no reason anyone in Canada should need guns in their everyday lives,” Trudeau said.

According to a recent, a majority of Canadians, especially those in urban centres, believed gun violence was increasing in their communities. Their fears are not unfounded.

A Statistics Canada report released last week says that, since 2009, the per capita rate of firearms being pointed at someone in the commission of a crime has nearly tripled, and the rate at which guns are fired with intent to kill or wound is up fivefold.

With inputs from agencies