Canada has announced a ban on imports of handguns
Montreal (AFP) – Canada announced Friday it will ban the import of handguns beginning on August 19, as part of a wider proposed freeze in the wake of high-profile mass shootings in the United States.
Such guns "have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to kill people," Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told a press briefing announcing the move.
Global Affairs Canada added in a statement that the ban for businesses and individuals was a temporary measure, set to "last until the national freeze comes into force," which is expected to happen by the fall.
The announcement was welcomed by arms control group PolySeSouvient, which called it an "important and innovative measure that will undoubtedly slow the expansion of the Canadian handgun market pending the passage" of the handgun freeze.
Experts remain skeptical about the effectiveness of gun control measures taken by Ottawa, pointing to the smuggling of guns from the neighbouring United States as the real problem.
On Wednesday, the Canada Border Services Agency announced two major seizures in western Canada of "ghost guns," which have no serial numbers and are difficult to trace.
From January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022, CBSA Pacific Region seized 581 firearms at ports of entry and in international mailings.
Friday's announcement comes months Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a proposed national handgun ownership freeze in May.
The freeze was announced after two particularly high-profile mass shootings in the United States -- at a Texas elementary school where 21 people, mostly children, were killed; and at a New York state supermarket, where a gunman targeting African Americans killed 10 people.
Trudeau's statement prompted Canadians to flock to gun stores and rapid sell-offs of inventory.
According to government estimates, there are more than one million handguns in Canada, which has a population of 38 million.
Some 2,500 stores sell handguns in the country.
DoremusJessup on August 6th, 2022 at 00:32 UTC »
Canadian gun manufactures not effected by the importation ban:
Cadex Defence Colt Canada Diemaco ELCAN Optical Technologies Para USA Savage Arms Tobin Armsjdragon3 on August 5th, 2022 at 19:44 UTC »
For people outside of Canada who think our handgun laws are even vaguely similar to the United States let me just run you through what it takes to get a handgun in Canada legally:
First you need to take a safety course for a nonrestricted license and pass a test (last time I checked there was something like a minimum 2-month wait for courses) then take a restricted safety course and pass the test. Then your results are sent to the RCMP/provincial CFO to get rubber stamped and snail mailed back to you about 2 months after the test.
Next you have to actually apply for your restricted license. You need at least 2 references plus a photo guarantor. You must also answer a host of questions about criminal, mental health, financial, family, etc. History and if you have had a common law partner or spouse recently the RCMP will actively seek out their input on you. In addition to contacting your references and anyone else they're interested in hearing from, the RCMP can effectively do whatever they want to investigate and verify the information/answers you provide and take their sweet time doing so. There are some other technical requirements and questions and such but I digress.
Once you have mailed your application off to buttfuck nowhere New Brunswick it can take anywhere up to half a year (pre covid, cant imagine now) for the RCMP to be satisfied with their vetting process and snail mail your license to you.
And then the real fun begins.
You must meet very specific storage requirements for handguns which at the very least necessitate a secure safe that meets RCMP standards and a purpose built locked container for transport to a range. Then you need to get authorization from the RCMP to actually transport your securely locked gun to a range. Having a handgun with you even in an approved lockbox in your car when not transporting it actively to a range (and doing so with up to date authorization) will land you in jail real quick. And then you are put through the national background check system daily to check if anything has happened that may disqualify you from gun ownership. You also agree that the RCMP can with minimal notice come to search your house to ensure you are meeting requirements.
By the time you actually own a handgun you've invested a shitload of time, effort, money (licensing plus storage adds up real quick not to mention how expensive handguns are in Canada), and privacy
This isn't intended to bitch, I like our gun laws by and large (excepting the fair amount of arbitrary bureaucratic bs and the RCMP redefining and prohibiting things on a whim). The point is we already have enough restrictions on legal guns. we need to address illegal smuggling across the land border but it's a political landmine for trudeau because a healthy amount of the smuggling is done via conduits on native reservations.
autotldr on August 5th, 2022 at 17:00 UTC »
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 61%. (I'm a bot)
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