Canada to Buy Back Assault-Style Weapons and Ban Handgun Sales — Should America Do the Same?

What’s the story

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation on Monday to ban the sale, purchase, importation, or transfer of handguns and implement a firearm buyback program for “military-style assault weapons.”

What does the ban say?

• The legislation would impose a “national freeze” on handgun sales. While not a full ban, it would restrict the number of handguns in circulation and includes other new changes to gun laws. 
• These changes include criminalizing rifle modifications to increase capacity, increasing penalties for illegal gun trafficking, and giving police the power to seize guns from people that have been ruled at risk of hurting themselves or others by a judge. It will also limit the size of magazines and allow for the removal of gun licenses from people convicted of certain crimes, like domestic violence or stalking. 
• In 2020, over 1,500 types of firearms were banned, including the AR-15, but Canada allowed owners with permits to keep their guns so long as they did not use, trade, or sell them, with some exceptions. Now, a mandatory buyback program of those banned weapons is planned to accompany the newest proposals, offering “fair compensation” to owners and businesses impacted.
• The ban is similar to a semiautomatic weapons ban and buyback program that New Zealand put in place in 2019 after 51 people were killed in the country’s largest mass shooting.

The big picture

• This is the latest restriction on gun ownership in Canada since 22 people were killed by a gunman in 2020, the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history. Some of the guns used were traced back to illegal smuggling from the U.S. The legislation also comes as the U.S. reacts to two mass shootings — one in Buffalo, N.Y. where a racially-motivated gunman killed 10 people, and another at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where 19 children and two teachers were killed last week.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about the proposals: 

“As a government, as a society, we have a responsibility to act to prevent more tragedies…We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action, firmly and rapidly, it gets worse and worse and more difficult to counter.”

• Candice Bergen, an MP for Portage-Lisgar and the interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, criticized Trudeau's proposal as being too soft in punishing gun offenders while putting law-abiding gun owners at greater risk by banning certain firearms:

"I'm a mom, and I know all of us want our kids safe in their schools and in their communities, that's why I'm so frustrated with what these Liberals are doing. They're banning guns, and then when criminals ignore their gun ban and use the guns to rob someone or commit a carjacking, the Liberals are letting these gun criminals do their time at home."

What’s next

• The law is expected to pass and could apply to tens of thousands of firearms. Buybacks will begin by the end of the year.

What do you think?

• What do you think of Canada's latest proposed gun control measures? Should the U.S. do the same? Contact your U.S. Representative through Causes and let them know what you think.

-Casey Dawson

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Sikander)