[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
The Trudeau regime continues to strip personal freedoms from Canadian citizens. Regulations prohibiting the sale, purchase, or transfer of handguns within Canada take effect on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, adding that the measure builds on earlier efforts banning handgun imports.
The handgun freeze was announced in May alongside proposed legislation that would implement the nation’s strongest gun control measures in 40 years as part of Trudeau’s plan to tackle gun violence, his office said.
“We have frozen the market for handguns in this country,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Surrey, British Columbia, attended by family members of gun violence victims and other advocates.
“As we see gun violence continue to rise… we have an obligation to take action,” Trudeau added. “Today our national handgun freeze is coming into force.”
Friday’s action stops people from legally buying, selling, or transferring handguns within Canada, and prevents them from legally bringing newly acquired handguns into the country, according to the prime minister’s office.
Some critics say the move is yet another in a long and growing line of unilateral decisions by Trudeau and the ruling party that strip freedoms from Canadians and hand increasingly unfettered power to the regime.
Others point out that the new restrictions will only hurt law-abiding citizens, and do nothing to stop those who do not care about following laws.
In Canada 🇨🇦 legal handguns are all registered to their owner and address, must be safely stored, locked and can only be used at RCMP approved ranges.
There’s no valid reason to change this.
These aren’t the guns shooting up the streets. Liberals have the wrong target 🎯 pic.twitter.com/QR1ulGfnnC
— Tracey Wilson (@TWilsonOttawa) October 20, 2022
Canada’s gun homicide rate is a fraction of the United States’ rate, 2020 data showed, but is still higher than other wealthy countries and has been rising, with handguns the main weapon used in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes between 2009 and 2020.
Trudeau’s ruling Liberal government introduced bill C-21 to fight gun violence, and his office said Friday’s action will help “keep Canadians safe” while the legislation is debated. In August, it banned imports until the law passes.
“We’ve got to get that law passed as quickly as possible,” Mendicino said, speaking alongside Trudeau.
Under the executive action, any handgun applications submitted before Friday will still be processed, Trudeau’s office said.
Copyright 2022 Thomson/Reuters. Edits and additions for FISM News by Jacob Fuller.