Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday a ban on some 1,500 makes and models of military-grade "assault-style" weapons in Canada, a ban that is effective immediately.
Starting today, licensed gun owners will no longer be allowed to sell, transport, import or use these sort of weapons in this country.
"As of today, the market for assault weapons in Canada is closed," Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said. "Enough is enough — banning these firearms will save Canadian lives."
Trudeau said there will be a two-year amnesty period for people who already own these firearms to comply with the ban. Trudeau promised to pass legislation in the coming months to provide "fair compensation" for people who own these firearms.
The Liberal Party promised some sort of buyback program in the last election, something that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
By April 2022, all Canadians must be in compliance with the law, Justice Minister David Lametti said, adding that gun owners that have not disposed of their banned firearms could face criminal sanctions under the criminal code.
While there is an amnesty period, the firearms cannot be used anywhere as of today. Lametti said firearms owners may return the firearms to the manufacturer or export them as part of a sale between now and 2022.
"These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only — only to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau said.
While he acknowledged that most firearms owners are law-abiding citizens, he said hunters don't need this sort of fire power.
"You don't need an AR-15 to bring down a deer," he said.
Radio-Canada obtained an early draft of a list of firarms that will be included in that 1,500 figure. Firearms like the M16, M4, AR-10 and AR-15 rifles will be banned; those styles were used in the Sandy Hook, New Zealand, Las Vegas and Orlando mass shootings. There are an estimated 83,572 in Canada.
The Ruger Mini-14s, the type of firearm used in the École Polytechnique shooting, is also on the list. There are an estimated 16,859 in Canada.
The M14 rifle, used in the Moncton shooting, is also expected to be banned. There are an estimated 5,229 in Canada.
The department will hold a technical briefing with reporters later today on the changes, which are expected to be enacted by an order-in-council, or cabinet decree.
Canada already has pretty strict gun laws, and I thought the real issue was illegal weapons being smuggled up from the U.S. I'm not sure if this ban will actually do anything until they put a bit more pressure on the borders to stop the illegal import of assault weapons.
tricksforchips wrote:Canada already has pretty strict gun laws, and I thought the real issue was illegal weapons being smuggled up from the U.S. I'm not sure if this ban will actually do anything until they put a bit more pressure on the borders to stop the illegal import of assault weapons.
Yeah, I guess it's a similar issue that Chicago has, where they have very strict gun laws but neighbouring states don't, so you can't stop the flow of them coming in. As strict as the laws were comparatively, there's still close to 125,000 of these registered guns in Canada, I'm happy to see them go and I don't think this is an incremental step or anything. I think the Nova Scotia shooter's collection was a mix of registered and unregistered guns. But yeah def have to clamp down on illegal imports and fuck it melt all handguns too.
well I mean illinois can't legally restrict travel over state lines or stop and search vehicles. p sure canada could if so inclined.
we were vacationing on the border a couple summers back and went for a drive on the canadian side, got waved right thru by the canadian border guards then coming back an hour later the us guards impounded and searched our car, interrogated my friend and I for 15 minutes and didn't let us go until I started name-dropping locals
but idk it is a pretty porous border, maybe gun traffickers are making water crossings or something else
kid at the local middle school shot another kid in the leg. she's getting taken to the big asheville hospital an hour away. the victim is twelve years old
On Hipinion, posters taxed their bonds and brotherhood, pushing themselves to the brink as a board and as buds.
The UC Berkeley expert I spoke with described your approach to boarding -- posting things without knowing whether they’re true in order to juice engagement -- as “sociopathic.” Do you have a response to that?
The UC Berkeley expert I spoke with described your approach to boarding -- posting things without knowing whether they’re true in order to juice engagement -- as “sociopathic.” Do you have a response to that?
alaska wrote:thats why u have to have a second gun on u. so u can shoot the guy who takes ur first gun
oh but the first one is one of those backwards firing guns..
GENIUS
The UC Berkeley expert I spoke with described your approach to boarding -- posting things without knowing whether they’re true in order to juice engagement -- as “sociopathic.” Do you have a response to that?
The UC Berkeley expert I spoke with described your approach to boarding -- posting things without knowing whether they’re true in order to juice engagement -- as “sociopathic.” Do you have a response to that?