Comment TORONTO — The Canadian government will ban bringing guns into the country, officials said Friday, the latest in a series of gun control measures under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Because the vast majority of guns in Canada are imported, the ban effectively limits the number of such guns already in the country to current levels without banning them entirely. The move, announced by Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, follows a bill the government introduced in May to implement a “national freeze” on the purchase, import, sale and transfer of weapons. The regulatory measure announced on Friday allows the government to impose that freeze without waiting for parliament, which is on summer recess until September, to approve the legislation. It is expected to take effect in two weeks, shortening the window for gun shops to stock up. Local media reported that gun sales have soared since the Trudeau government announced the freeze, prompting some lawmakers to express concern about a rash of gun sales by legal gun owners looking to stock up before the legislation is passed. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new gun control legislation on May 30 that will put a “national freeze” on the import, purchase or sale of guns. (Video: Reuters) Gun control enjoys widespread support here. But critics say the focus on restricting gun ownership unfairly targets law-abiding owners while doing little to eliminate the underlying problem: Guns being smuggled across the border. Toronto’s police chief said in November that about 80 percent of the guns involved in gun violence in Canada’s most populous city come from the United States, which he noted has a significant gun culture, making a “very difficult” issue to deal with. Canada pledges to ‘freeze’ arms sales, buy back assault weapons “The biggest problem we have in the city is the volume of guns crossing the border,” said Chief James Ramer. The legislation introduced in May, known as C-21, also includes “red flag” laws that would allow judges to temporarily remove firearms from people deemed a danger to themselves or others, the removal of gun licenses from people who have committed domestic violence and tougher penalties for arms smuggling and trafficking. The legislation and ban include exemptions for those, such as armed security guards, who hold a Carry Permit as part of their job, those who hold a Carry Permit for protection, and authorized high-performance sports shooters and coaches. Canada imported more than $28.2 million in revolvers and pistols in 2021, according to government data, with nearly two-thirds of that volume coming from the United States. Total imports were up 7.7% from a year earlier, but down from a recent peak of $34.7 million in 2018. Canadian trauma surgeons called for gun control. Gun groups had an NRA-style response. Mass shootings are relatively rare here compared to the United States, but the rate of gun-related homicides has risen since 2013, according to Statistics Canada data. The government statistics office reported that more than 60 percent of violent gun-related crimes in urban centers in 2020 involved handguns. But it also said there were “many gaps” and limitations in the data, including “the source of firearms used in crime” and “whether a firearm used in crime was stolen, purchased illegally or smuggled into the country.” No province requires investigators to send weapons used in crimes for tracing. The Canada Border Services Agency said it seized 1,203 firearms from 2021 to 2022. In May, a Yorkshire terrier named Pepper thwarted an attempt to smuggle 11 guns across the border from Michigan to Ontario using a drone with six rotors. About 2.2 million people in Canada own licensed firearms, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2020, and more than 1.1 million firearms are registered. Canada announces immediate ban on ‘military-grade’ assault weapons. The Trudeau government promised tighter gun control measures during the federal election campaign last year. In 2020, Trudeau announced a ban on 1,500 makes and models of “military-style assault weapons” after a gunman posing as a police officer went on the rampage in Nova Scotia over two days over the weekend, torching structures and killing 22 people, including a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer in the most fatal mass shooting in canada. Last week, the government outlined how much it proposes to compensate gun owners who surrender those weapons under a mandatory buyback program. During hearings at a public inquiry this year into the “causes, context and circumstances” of the Nova Scotia attack, evidence was presented about the origin of the attacker’s large cache of weapons. Gabriel Wortman, a dentist, did not have a gun license and obtained his guns illegally. The commission heard there were “two, and possibly three”, instances where police received information about his access to firearms. Little, if anything, happened, according to testimony. Gunman on the loose in Nova Scotia in Canada’s deadliest shooting Several of the guns were located and come from gun shops in Maine. A friend there told police that Wortman took one or more of the guns without his knowledge or permission, while giving the shooter a Ruger P89 “as a token of gratitude” for his help with “tree removal and other odd jobs around the residence of. “ An AR-15 came from a gun store in California, but Wortman first saw it at a gun show in Maine and another person bought it for him. Witnesses told police after the shooting that Wortman would disassemble the firearms and wrap them in the payload bay of his truck to smuggle them across the border. Wortman was shot to death by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at a service area in Enfield, Nova Scotia, ending his rampage. Police have not charged any of the people who helped him obtain the weapons, including those who may have broken U.S. laws.
