The Canadian government has said it would temporarily ban the importation of restricted handguns with effect from August 19 in a move aimed at indirectly achieving gun control legislation that was proposed in May.
In a statement, the government said the import ban would be in place until a national ban on handguns becomes effective.
In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government introduced bill C- to tackle gun violence.
The gun control package includes a nationwide ban on the sale and purchase of handguns and is yet to be implemented. The parliament of Canada is currently on summer break till September.
While talking to reporters at a recent briefing, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Canadians’ demand for guns increased after the announcement of the freeze and the government now wants to prohibit gun sellers from restocking their inventory with the importation ban.
She said: “The import ban announced today will help to keep guns stay off our streets as we work towards implementing Bill C-21, reducing gun violence in the immediate term.”
While speaking alongside Joly, Canadian Public Safety Minister, Marco Mendicino, said: “Given that nearly all our handguns are imported, this means that we’re bringing our national handgun freeze into effect even sooner.”
According to Statistics Canada data, Canada’s gun homicide rate was lower than that of the United States in 2020 but it is still higher than the rates of many countries and has been on the rise.
Official data revealed that handguns were the weapon used in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes from 2009 to 2020.
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