Following Uvalde School Shooting, Canada Proposes New Gun Control Laws & More News Here

Per week after a gunman opened hearth on an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 kids and two adults, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has moved to freeze handgun gross sales in his nation. 

Trudeau introduced new laws Monday that may cease Canadians from with the ability to purchase, promote, import, or switch handguns.

“One Canadian killed by gun violence is one too many,” Trudeau stated in a press launch. 

“I’ve seen all too well the tragic cost that gun violence has in our communities across the country. Today, we’re proposing some of the strongest measures in Canadian history to keep guns out of our communities and build a safer future for everyone.”

The proposed legislation wouldn’t cease present handgun homeowners from with the ability to use their weapons at a capturing vary, nor does it drive them to surrender their firearms. It follows Trudeau’s 2020 ban on 1,500 makes and fashions of “assault style” weapons together with AR-15 rifles, the kind of weapon utilized by the UValde shooter and plenty of different mass shooters.  

The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t reply to VICE World News’ questions by press time, together with whether or not or not the laws was rolled out because of the current U.S. shootings. The laws consists of some measures tabled earlier than the September 2021 election that weren’t handed.   

Right-wing figures within the U.S. are responding to Trudeau’s gun management measures by calling him a “dictator.” 

“‘We only want to ban AR-15s’ claim the American libs celebrating Trudeau for banning handguns,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr.

The new laws, Bill C-21, additionally requires elevated legal penalties for gun trafficking and smuggling. It says it would robotically revoke firearms licences from individuals “involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking.” The invoice may even create a brand new “red flag” legislation permitting courts to droop the licence and revoke the firearms of somebody thought of a hazard to themselves or others.

Experts say there’s no knowledge to point out that the handgun freeze will cut back gun violence in Canada.

According to the federal government’s press launch, handguns have been probably the most critical weapon current within the majority of firearm-related violent crimes (59 per cent) between 2009 and 2020.

But A.J Somerset, creator of Arms: the Culture & Credo, stated there’s no nationwide knowledge displaying that the handguns utilized in crimes in Canada have been legally-sourced domestically. According to MetropolisNews, 85 % of weapons seized by Toronto police in 2020 have been traced again to the U.S. But Somerset stated police haven’t stated what quantity of crime weapons total are lengthy weapons. Meanwhile, most mass shootings in Canada have concerned legally-owned lengthy weapons, although the person chargeable for the worst mass capturing in Canadian historical past didn’t have a firearms licence and smuggled a few of his weapons throughout the border.

“There’s a real problem with the data here,” Somerset stated. “We’re never comparing apples to apples.” 

Somerset stated he thinks the “freeze” solely is sensible if the federal government is planning a full handgun ban sooner or later. As of 2020, there have been roughly 1.1 million registered handguns in Canada. 

“By leaving those guns out in the world, all of the ills that they are proposing to address—things like stolen guns making their way to gangs—those are still risks because those guns are still in private hands all around Canada,” he stated.

Jooyoung Lee, a sociology professor on the University of Toronto who research gun violence, stated he thinks the handgun freeze can have “a very limited impact on gun violence.”

Lee stated analysis reveals a sample of crime weapons right here being smuggled in from the U.S., the place weapons are “just so plentiful.” He stated the laws gained’t do a lot to abate gun smuggling, nor does it tackle societal points that lead individuals to show to a lifetime of crime.

“One of the ongoing pieces of legislation that the left likes to propose is abolition of firearms or prohibiting access to firearms. These kinds of discussions happen without attending to what are known as root causes or structural conditions that funnel at risk people into acquiring a firearm and using it to commit violence.” 

Lee stated he’d prefer to see extra sources spent on community-based packages to assist mentor younger individuals in danger, and on addressing primary human wants, together with housing and serving to individuals discover employment. 

Lee stated he discovered the pink flag provision for revoking weapons from somebody concerned in home violence promising, nevertheless it relies upon the way it’s executed. 

Canada already has pink flag legal guidelines which permit somebody to file a report back to a Chief Firearms Officer in the event that they assume a gun proprietor poses a danger to themselves or others. 

According to Somerset, the federal government is proposing that individuals will now have the ability to apply on to a provincial decide in the event that they assume somebody is a hazard, and that decide can droop that individual’s gun licence and revoke their weapons for 30 days. 

However, he stated the invoice nonetheless locations a burden on individuals to know methods to make such an utility in court docket. 

“If this is viewed as being a way of protecting people who are at risk, women in abusive relationships, for example, I think it’s asking a lot of those people to figure out…how to go to the courthouse, how to make this application, how to make sure that application gets heard quickly.”

While the brand new guidelines might not make a dent in gun violence in Canada, Somerset stated it might merely fulfill a imaginative and prescient that many individuals need: a Canada with out handguns. 

“There is a genuine desire among some people to have handgun free Canada. And that’s really what this is about.” 

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