Canada's New Proposed Gun Restrictions Includes Ban on Handguns, Toy Weapons

Canada’s already-stringent gun laws are getting tighter.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his decision to reintroduce national legislation that will ban the sale of handguns, prohibit the sale of toy guns and limit magazine capacity to five rounds for long guns.

“As a government, as a society, we have a responsibility to act to prevent more tragedies,” Trudeau told reporters on Monday, referencing the shooting tragedy that occurred in Uvalde, Texas.

He added, “We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action, firmly and rapidly, it gets worse and worse and more difficult to counter.”

When discussing the ban on toy guns, Justice Minister Dave Lametti told reporters that “because they look the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real.” President of the Canadian Police Association Tom Stamatakis backed the measure to limit airsoft-type toy guns.

“You cannot distinguish between what’s a replica firearm and what’s a real firearm,” he said, “particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances.”

The Canadian government has long championed a loss of access to securing a weapon as an anti-thesis to the Second Amendment privileges in the United States.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino stated that a program to buy back weapons from gun owners was “imminent.”

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