The Canadian government announced on Friday August 5 that it would ban the importation of handguns in an attempt to curb gun violence in the country.
“I am proud to announce that our government has decided to ban the importation of handguns“, announced Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Public Security, during a press briefing. It’s about a “temporary ban“applied from August 19 to individuals and businesses and this, “until the entry into force of the national freeze“, is it specified in a press release. This Bill C-21 could come into force in the fall.
These weaponshave only one goal, to kill people“, underlined Mr. Mendicino, during a trip to Etobicoke, in the suburbs of Toronto. The group PolySeSouvient, which represents survivors and families of victims of gun violence, hailed a “important and groundbreaking measure that will undoubtedly slow the expansion of the Canadian handgun market pending the passage of the bill“. Despite all the measures put in place by Ottawa to try to reduce armed violence, experts remain skeptical about their effectiveness, pointing to the smuggling of weapons from the United States as the real problem. On Wednesday, the Canada Border Services Agency announced two major seizures in western Canada of “ghost gunswhich do not have a serial number and are difficult to trace. From January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022, CBSA Pacific Region seized 581 firearms at ports of entry and in international mail shipments.
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This announcement comes a few months after Justin Trudeau unveiled in May a project of “national freeze on handgun ownershipafter the recent killings in the United States, which killed 21 people in an elementary school in Texas and 10 in a supermarket in New York State. Justin Trudeau’s statement then prompted Canadians to rush to gun stores, with lines visible in front of these businesses and rapid stock flows. According to government estimates, there are over one million handguns in Canada, for a population of 38 million people. Some 2,500 stores sell pistols nationwide. The measure also comes in the context of an upsurge in crimes related to firearms: this week three homicides were committed within 24 hours in the Montreal region.