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Canada introduces bill to freeze sales and imports of handguns

[b][c=BF0080]Chapeau, Premier Ministre Trudeau![/c][/b]

The Canadian government introduced a new bill today that proposes stricter laws controlling handguns just days after more than a dozen students and a teacher were gunned down in a Texas elementary school.

The proposed legislation would immediately stop the sale, transfer, and import of handguns across the country. It stops short of an outright ban on handguns but would reduce the number of them in legal circulation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the bill a “national freeze” on handgun ownership during a news conference in Ottawa just after 5 pm local time.

“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. “Canadians are united in wanting to do more to keep communities safe and prevent suicides and gender-based violence.”

“[b]This is about freedom. People should be free to go to school, the supermarket, their place of worship without fear,[/b]” Trudeau continued. “[b]Gun violence is a complex problem, but at the end of the day, the math is quite simple: [c=BF0080]the fewer guns in communities, the safer everyone will be[/c].[/b]”

Present at the announcement were survivors of several Canadian mass shootings, including Ecole Polytechnique, the Quebec Mosque shooting, the Danforth shooting, and the Portapique rampage.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino called the bill the most significant action on gun violence in a generation.

The bill also includes stiffer sentences for illegally owning a gun and gives more resources to law enforcement to intercept smuggled guns. In addition, it prevents people with a prior or current restraining order from getting a firearms licence. Courts could also suspend gun licences for people deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others.

The proposed legislation needs to be approved in a vote in the House of Commons before it becomes law.

(stolen from: https://dailyhive.com/calgary/canada-handgun-freeze-bill)
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pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
This proposed legislation will do NOTHING to curb gun violence in Canada. You see legally possessed guns are not used in Crime in Canada... The licensed holders of handguns can use them in one place and in one place only - a shooting range. The transportation of a hand gun requires a special permit from their safe at home to a range issued by the chief fire arms officer and ... it must be moved with a trigger lock in a locked case and unloaded or... the licensed holder is going to be arrested. Those hand guns must be stored in safes, with trigger locks and kept unloaded... no ammunition close at hand... So the law and the reason for it is political bullshit.

All crimes committed with hand guns ... are with guns that have been smuggled in past the governments noses originating from the USA... and sold at a big profit on the street along with smuggled ammunition... This change in law will do NOTHING to curb the traffic in illegal weapons all it will do is to penalize legal gun ownership that already faces the most restrictive laws possible on the ownership and use of handguns.

This is a law with no reason and that will have NO effect except to hurt law abiding licensed citizens of this country who have been vetted individually by the police and who have had to take gun safety courses... and who pay a fee to possess and acquire such guns to the government.

Because the existing laws are already so onerous.. even though I am a holder of a license and can legally purchase and hold a handgun I have chosen not to do so ... because of the level of restrictions already in place..

This is a law for no reason which will accomplish nothing ... except guaranteeing that many never vote Liberal ever again.
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@pdqsailor1 It seems to me that gun laws in Canada are having the desired effect of reducing the number of guns, which will reduce the number of gun deaths. Now you need to go after the cross border gun traffic from the Nation of Guns, the US.
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
@windinhishair Its not the number of guns that is the problem - legal ones are NOT the problem it is ONLY the illegal ones that are a problem - blame is being laid on legal owners for the acts of criminals. This is idiocy... I have multiple guns, I can legally have many more of them.. Not one gun death will ever be linked to their possession. There is zero linkage between numbers and criminal behaviour.. and any inference of this is idiocy... I am licensed to acquire and possess handguns in Canada. I chose NOT to avail myself of my privileges because of current regulations on use and my own view that they are comparatively inaccurate tools.. I am currently faced with a decision as to should I acquire one now before the legislation is passed.. the government is forcing me to consider something I would not otherwise consider because of their impending legislation.. Now think how ridiculous this is...
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
So Canada smuggles guns from the USA... and Canada does Abortions for US Women who need them. @windinhishair. That is some quid pro quo.. We have total idiots in charge in both the US Supreme Court and in the Canadian Government.
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@pdqsailor1 The more guns there are, legal or illegal, the more gun deaths there are. You should pay more attention to what is happening in the US. I support what Canada is doing. You can and should take whatever legal actions you wish.
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
What you state is a total unsupported fallacy.. but you are entitled to reside in your state of complete ignorance... more guns do not mean more deaths. More illegal guns and illegal ammunition mean more deaths. Those are the ONLY ones that are being used in criminal activities.. The legal ones... ALL license holders are fastidious about complying with the law.. they do not want to be charged criminally, loose their license and firearms and would not commit an infraction to become liable for sanction. Your support or absence of it.. is of no value or effect.. This is a political matter... and duly licensed people are being made to pay the price for ignorance and suffer because of the failure of the government to stop criminal smuggling .. You will NOTE that after this legislation is passed and only criminals are smuggling ammunition and guns into the country that the violent crime rate will not dip at all - why - criminals do not give a darn about the laws while licensed gun owners do... I am not impressed with ignorance... so this will be the end of our interaction..
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@pdqsailor1 The data in the US show that the states with the highest rates of gun ownership are the ones with the highest rates of gun deaths. It makes sense, and the data supports it. I'm sorry your ignorance of reality clouds your judgment, but it is what it is. I agree and am not impressed with your ignorance on the issue.

While the majority of gun owners are responsible, it isn't universal to the point of ALL license holders, as you assert. The gun(s) used to kill children in Uvalde were legally purchased, so that blows your bogus assertion out of the water with just the most recent egregious school killing.

I applaud Canada from doing their best to not emulate the US.
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
No one in the USA has a firearms acquisition or possession license or has undergone mandatory firearms training.. Canada does NOT emulate the USA.. Here possession of a fire arm is a privilege that licensed holders protect... by complying with the law...yes a fee is paid to maintain a license... @windinhishair Your ignorance is startling.. the ONLY handgun firearms infractions taking place here are with guns that are smuggled into Canada from the USA... Its not numbers of legal guns that are at issue.. It is ILLEGAL guns and those will flood in unabated regardless of any laws that the Trudeau liberals pass until they find a way to stop smuggling from happening.. Criminals do not consider or obey laws they ignore them... you sound like a man truly ignorant of what is going on in Canada and your US statistics or the legal environment are not in the least comparable to what happens north of the border... I do not like ignorant statements that are unfounded or not relevant.. to what the rules and laws are in Canada and you are truly ignorant...
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@pdqsailor1 So guns are used completely differently in Canada than in the US? No one could possibly use a legal weapon for a crime in Canada, even though it happens across the border? I know Canadians are more polite than Americans, but do you have actual data that shows that no legal guns are ever used for crimes nationally, and that ALL crimes are committed with illegal guns smuggled from the US? I will be happy to admit I was wrong if you provide the documented data showing what you falsely allege.

I see that you are triggered (no pun intended) by a simple question about differences in how guns are used in two very similar and adjacent countries, and have to block because you are so embarrassed and have nothing to say. I would love to see data showing why human behavior with respect to guns is different in Canada and the US, if it exists. The Government of Canada is obviously thinking that the nation could end up in a similar situation as the US unless they do something, so they are looking at the data on US gun ownership and gun deaths. But this is obviously too painful for you to contemplate, because your mind is made up regardless of what the facts are. I am genuinely sorry for you and your lack of introspection. Good luck moving forward. You'll need it.
pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M
ok Now you are displaying your ignorance.. Guns in the USA are allowed for home and personal defence, to be carried... In Canada there are two permissible uses - hunting requiring a separate license and permits and range use.. That is it.. @windinhishair Clips for AR 15's are limited to 3 rounds. Handguns to ten rounds on a range only.. Shot guns are also limited for the number of rounds.. Want to guess how many AR 15's are in Canada per capita vs how many are in the US per capita? Guns in Canada must be kept locked, trigger locked and in a safe, unloaded no ammunition in the same room.. If you have someone invade your home by the time you get your ammunition, unlock the safe, get the gun unlock the trigger, load it.. well that is what it takes to keep a gun owner out of prison... Do anything else you go to PRISON . home and personal defence is NOT allowed in Canada using a fire arm period...

I am SICK and tired of attempting to educate an IGNORANT person