Sat 02 May 2020:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced an immediate ban on military-grade assault weapons in response to the country’s deadliest-ever mass shooting, a rampage that left 22 people dead last month.
He said Canadians “need more than thoughts and prayers.”
The ban immediately stops the sale and import of the weapons, as well as all transport unless they are being deactivated or disposed. The government will allow a two-year “amnesty period” for Canadians who already own these weapons to comply with the ban. Trudeau said there will be legislation in the coming months to give “fair compensation” in a buyback program.
“You don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer,” Trudeau said.
In April, a 51-year-old gunman in Nova Scotia killed 22 people in a weekend spree of shootings and fires, including a veteran police officer, two health care workers and a 17-year-old girl. The rampage ended when police shot and killed the gunman. Authorities said the gunman did not have a license and obtained his weapons illegally.
Trudeau made banning assault weapons part of his campaign for elections that brought him to power in 2015. And he repeated the pledge while campaigning for the October 2019 elections in which he won another term.
Nearly four of five Canadians back such a ban, according to an Angus Reid poll released Friday.
But division on the issue between urban and rural elected officials within Trudeau’s Liberal party had led him to stall until now.
Andrew Scheer, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, condemned Trudeau’s ban.
“The vast majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained firearms,” he said in a statement. “Nothing the Trudeau Liberals announced today addresses this problem.”
The Canadian Parliament had already been planning stronger gun control measures this year, but it was delayed when the coronavirus pandemic interrupted legislative sessions.
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