(OTTAWA) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that his government has introduced legislation to impose a nationwide freeze on handgun ownership.
Posted at 5:28 p.m.
Updated at 5:54 p.m.
“Over the years, I’ve been to too many vigils. I have met the relatives of too many victims, ”he said late Monday afternoon.
“Politicians, we are always there to be good to console ‒ and it is important to do so ‒ but it is also our moral duty to be there to act”, he added, not failing to reminisce about the recent shots fired in Rivière-des-Prairies that hit a daycare centre.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who is sponsoring Bill C-21 in the House of Commons, assured that the freeze will be put in place “very quickly”, calling on opposition MPs to allow it to pass.
“It will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns into Canada,” he said.
The Canadian Press had not been able to read the details of Bill C-21 at the time of writing these lines since the piece of legislation was made available to it at the same time as the press briefing.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the provisions of Bill C-21 provide for tougher criminal penalties to crack down on firearms smuggling and trafficking.
In 2020, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals banned more than 1,500 models of assault-style firearms, but a mandatory buy-back program has yet to be put in place.