Canada: You must sell your handguns
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Canada to Ban Purchase, Sale of Handguns
Canada said on Monday that it is introducing some of the toughest gun-control measures in decades, including a ban on the purchase, sale and transfer of handguns, in response to concerns about violent crime.
Canada will compel owners of banned semiautomatic firearms to sell their weapons to the government, starting at the end of this year. The proposed bill, introduced in Canada’s Parliament, would allow courts to order gun owners to surrender their weapons should a judge believe they pose a danger to themselves or others, and allow authorities to take away firearms licenses for those involved in acts of domestic violence and stalking.
The suite of new restrictions comes less than a week after 19 students and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in the second deadliest U.S. school shooting. The new proposed gun-control legislation is likely to pass through Parliament, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a formal deal with a smaller left-wing party to support government legislation and prop up the minority Liberal administration until mid-2025.)
The new proposed legislation would impose a freeze on handguns, which officials said bans the purchase, sale or transfer of handguns, except in limited circumstances. Individuals who already own handguns can continue to possess and use the firearm.
Also, the government had proposed buying back firearms that were banned in the spring of 2020 shortly after a violent, two-day rampage in Nova Scotia in which more than 20 people died.
Among the 1,500 models and variants of semiautomatic weapons prohibited was the AR-15. That buyback program was initially going to be voluntary.
Mr. Trudeau said the buyback program would be mandatory, with purchases starting in late 2022. Officials didn’t provide an estimate on how much it will cost to acquire the banned weapons.
In Canada, individuals are required to hold a license to purchase and possess a firearm and buy ammunition. Licenses have to be renewed every five years, and are obtained from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The national police force issues such permits if applicants meet certain public safety criteria and pass a series of tests.
The most recent RCMP data available indicate there are 2.2 million license holders and 1.2 million firearms registered.
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Let's hope it has the same effect as similar legislation in Australia and the UK.
I was only joking
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@Jolly said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
Australia II.
Australia had a lot of social momentum going for them and even then the Prime Minister wore a vest for awhile when speaking about this issue at press conferences. I think Canada might be screwing up here.
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@Jolly said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
Australia II.
Australia had a lot of social momentum going for them and even then the Prime Minister wore a vest for awhile when speaking about this issue at press conferences. I think Canada might be screwing up here.
@Aqua-Letifer said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
@Jolly said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
Australia II.
Australia had a lot of social momentum going for them and even then the Prime Minister wore a vest for awhile when speaking about this issue at press conferences. I think Canada might be screwing up here.
There wasn't much support for keeping handguns in the UK, either, particularly after two very nasty mass shootings, the second one in a Scottish primary school, the worst in British history. Not many people owned guns over there before the legislation.
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Let's hope it has the same effect as similar legislation in Australia and the UK.
@Doctor-Phibes said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
Let's hope it has the same effect as similar legislation in Australia and the UK.
Hopefully, but my guess is there will be a shooting that will be the "Hey see? It doesn't work." trump card the NRA will rely on for years to come.
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@Klaus said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
How difficult would it be for a Canadian to buy a gun in the US and bring it to Canada?
I had a Canadian friend who worked on the US border. He said the number of handguns confiscated from Americans was quite astonishing.
Of course, you can smuggle anything, but it's not an open border.
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But can you buy a firearm in the US as a Canadian citizen?
What about used firearms? I heard that the regulations in the US are less strict there.
@Klaus said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
But can you buy a firearm in the US as a Canadian citizen?
What about used firearms? I heard that the regulations in the US are less strict there.
No, you can't just buy one if you're a Canadian non-resident (i.e. not a green card holder). Obviously, if people are willing to break the law, it's not likely to be particularly difficult to get hold of one.
I believe that green card holders can buy one in the same way that a US citizen can, but I've never looked into the details.
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The new laws would also ban some toys that look like real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more
"Because they look the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would like more information on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.
He completely supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he said were a "big challenge."
"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."
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The new laws would also ban some toys that look like real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more
"Because they look the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would like more information on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.
He completely supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he said were a "big challenge."
"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."
@George-K said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
The new laws would also ban some toys that look like real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more
"Because they look the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would like more information on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.
He completely supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he said were a "big challenge."
"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."
I understand the concern regarding replicas - my son has a couple of airsoft guns, and you could easily mistake them for the real thing from a distance if you covered the orange tip - we made it very clear he wasn't allowed to take them out in the street. I'm far from convinced that the best solution is to ban them, but imagine being the parent of a child who was killed by police for playing army in the park.
Where I grew up, the police typically didn't shoot kids - but they didn't have guns, either. I know, what a concept...
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@George-K said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
The new laws would also ban some toys that look like real guns, such as airsoft rifles. Last week Toronto police shot and killed a man carrying a pellet gun. read more
"Because they look the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed some of the moves, such as the "red flag" provisions in the case of domestic violence, and said he would like more information on enforcement and resources for measures such as the handgun freeze.
He completely supported a crackdown on fake guns, which he said were a "big challenge."
"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."
I understand the concern regarding replicas - my son has a couple of airsoft guns, and you could easily mistake them for the real thing from a distance if you covered the orange tip - we made it very clear he wasn't allowed to take them out in the street. I'm far from convinced that the best solution is to ban them, but imagine being the parent of a child who was killed by police for playing army in the park.
Where I grew up, the police typically didn't shoot kids - but they didn't have guns, either. I know, what a concept...
@Doctor-Phibes said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
I understand the concern regarding replicas - my son has a couple of airsoft guns, and you could easily mistake them for the real thing from a distance if you covered the orange tip - we made it very clear he wasn't allowed to take them out in the street.
That has happened here in the US. Kid with an airsoft gun was killed by police a few years ago.
Where I grew up, the police typically didn't shoot kids - but they didn't have guns, either. I know, what a concept.
Yeah, where you grew up, kids typically didn't have guns either.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
I understand the concern regarding replicas - my son has a couple of airsoft guns, and you could easily mistake them for the real thing from a distance if you covered the orange tip - we made it very clear he wasn't allowed to take them out in the street.
That has happened here in the US. Kid with an airsoft gun was killed by police a few years ago.
Where I grew up, the police typically didn't shoot kids - but they didn't have guns, either. I know, what a concept.
Yeah, where you grew up, kids typically didn't have guns either.
@George-K said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
@Doctor-Phibes said in Canada: You must sell your handguns:
I understand the concern regarding replicas - my son has a couple of airsoft guns, and you could easily mistake them for the real thing from a distance if you covered the orange tip - we made it very clear he wasn't allowed to take them out in the street.
That has happened here in the US. Kid with an airsoft gun was killed by police a few years ago.
Where I grew up, the police typically didn't shoot kids - but they didn't have guns, either. I know, what a concept.
Yeah, where you grew up, kids typically didn't have guns either.
We all had realistic looking toy guns, quite a few of us had .22 air rifles, but you're right - there was little to no gun culture back then. It's not quite the same now, but the regular police still aren't armed, by and large. Obviously, that's never going to work in the US, but it's still quite surprising, and also interesting is that the majority of British police officers don't want to be armed.
