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TORONTO — The Canadian government will ban the importation of handguns into the country, officials said Friday, the latest in a series of gun control measures under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Since the majority of handguns in Canada are imported, the ban effectively limits the number of such weapons already in the country to current levels without banning them entirely.
The move, announced by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie, follows a bill introduced by the government in May to implement a “national freeze” on the purchase, import, sale and transfer of weapons.
The regulatory measure announced on Friday allows the government to impose that freeze without waiting for parliament, which is on summer break until September, to pass that legislation. It is expected to go into effect in two weeks, reducing the window for gun stores to stockpile.
Local media have reported that handgun sales have skyrocketed since the Trudeau government announced the freeze, prompting some lawmakers to express concern about the widespread distribution of handguns by legal gun owners looking to stock up before the law is passed.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new gun control legislation on May 30 that will impose a “national freeze” on the import, purchase or sale of handguns. (Video: Reuters)
Gun control enjoys widespread support here. But critics say the focus on restricting gun ownership unfairly targets law-abiding owners while doing little to eradicate the underlying problem: guns brought across the border illegally.
Toronto’s police chief said in November that roughly 80 percent of the firearms used in gun violence in Canada’s most populous city come from the United States, where he noted there is a significant gun culture that makes a “very difficult” problem to deal with.
Canada vows to ‘freeze’ gun sales, buy back assault-style weapons
“The biggest problem we have in the city is the amount of guns coming across the border,” Chief James Ramer said.
The legislation, introduced in May, known as C-21, also includes “red flag” laws that will allow judges to temporarily confiscate firearms from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, confiscation of gun permits by people who have committed a domestic violence crime and tougher penalties for gun smuggling and trafficking.
The legislation and ban include exemptions for those such as armed security guards who hold a carry permit as part of their job, those who hold a carry permit for protection, and authorized sportsmen and high-performance sports shooting coaches.
Canada imported more than $28.2 million in revolvers and handguns in 2021, according to government data, with nearly two-thirds of that volume coming from the United States. Total imports were up 7.7 percent from a year earlier, but down from a recent peak of $34.7 million in 2018.
Canadian trauma surgeons have called for gun control. Gun groups had an NRA-style response.
Mass shootings here are relatively rare compared to the United States, but the rate of homicides involving firearms has increased since 2013, according to Statistics Canada.
The government’s statistics agency reported that more than 60 percent of violent gun-related crimes in city centers in 2020 involved handguns. But it also said there were “many gaps” and limitations in the data, including about “the source of firearms used in crimes” and “whether guns used in crimes were stolen, illegally purchased or smuggled into the country.” No province requires investigators to send weapons used in crimes for tracing.
The Canadian Border Patrol reported seizing 1,203 firearms from 2021 to 2022. In May, a Yorkshire terrier named Pepper thwarted an attempt to smuggle 11 guns across the border from Michigan to Ontario using a six-rotor drone.
About 2.2 million people in Canada hold a firearm license, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported in 2020, and more than 1.1 million firearms are registered.
Canada Announces Immediate Ban on ‘Military Grade’ Combat Weapons.
The Trudeau government promised tougher gun control measures during the federal election campaign last year.
In 2020, Trudeau announced a ban on 1,500 makes and models of “military-style assault weapons” after a gunman posing as a police officer went on a rampage across Nova Scotia over two weekends, setting fire to buildings and killing 22 people, including Royal Canadian rider A police officer in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting.
Last week, the government outlined the amount it is proposing to compensate gun owners who surrender those guns under a mandatory buyback program.
During hearings in a public inquiry this year into the “causes, context and circumstances” of the Nova Scotia attack, evidence was presented about the origin of the shooter’s large cache of weapons.
Gabriel Wortman, a dentist, did not hold a firearms permit and obtained his guns illegally. The commission heard there were “two and potentially three” instances where police received information about his access to firearms. Little, if any, was done, according to testimony.
A gunman is on the rampage across Nova Scotia in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting
Several of the guns were traced and delivered to gun shops in Maine. A friend there told police that Wortman took one or more of the guns without his knowledge or permission, while giving the shooter a Ruger P89 “as a thank you” for his help “removing trees and other odd jobs at his residence.” . “
The AR-15 came from a gun shop in California, but Wortman first saw it at a gun show in Maine and another person bought it for him. Witnesses told police after the shooting that Wortman would disassemble the firearms and roll them into the hood of his pickup truck to smuggle them across the border.
Wortman was shot dead by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at a service area in Enfield, Nova Scotia, ending his rampage. Police have not charged anyone who helped him obtain the weapons, including those who may have broken US law.
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