Six days after the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced new legislation to implement a ‘national freeze’ on handgun ownership and prevent people from buying and selling handguns anywhere in the country.
‘The day this legislation goes into effect it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns in Canada,’ Trudeau told reporters.
Canada has always had stricter gun control laws than the US, for instance, the country banned the sale and use of some 1,500 models of assault weapons, like the AR-15 rifle, years ago.
‘In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege not a right,’ said Bill Blair, minister of emergency preparedness. ‘This is a principal that differentiates ourselves from many other countries in the world, notably our colleagues and friends to the south. In Canada, guns are only intended to be used for hunting and sport purposes.’
If passed, the freeze on handguns is expected to come into force in the autumn.
‘Canada can teach us a lot,’ tweeted Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada under the Obama administration.