Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau took a break from announcing COVID-19-related policy on Friday, officially banning military-grade assault weapons in Canada effective immediately.
The ban covers more than 1,500 models of military-style firearms and assault weapons, and Trudeau said it is now illegal to sell, use, import and to transport such weapons.
During the announcement, Trudeau recalled his hearing of the Ecole Polytechnique shooting in Montreal in 1989, as well as the most recent mass shooting in Nova Scotia earlier this month that killed 22 people.
“The heartbreaking truth is, they [mass shootings] are happening more often than it once was… It needs to stop,” Trudeau said while recognizing some Canadians use firearms as part of their livelihoods or lifestyles for hunting. “You don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer.”
Justice minister David Lametti said Ottawa is implementing an amnesty order, allowing owners of these guns to suffer no penalties if they get rid of these weapons before April 30, 2022. Owners are allowed to return the weapons to the manufacturer, export them (with a valid export certification), deactivated or turned in to police (although authorities asked owners to wait until social distancing is over to do so).
In the meantime, such weapons can only be stored or transported to facilitate one of the above disposal methods, Lametti said.
Public safety minister Bill Blair said Ottawa will now also pursue additional laws to combat gun violence, including the possible implementation of “red-flag” laws that allow authorities to remove assault weapons from what Blair describes as “high-risk situations.”
Such situations in include those involving people who may be suicidal/prone to self-harm, cases of domestic violence or individuals/groups committing hate crimes.
There are exemptions, however, to the ban: Those using weapons for food-hunting, as well as members of First Nations - are allowed to keep using those weapons until a suitable replacement is found.
Trudeau and Blair said Ottawa had been working on this ban for a number of months and were planning to announce it as early as March before having the announcement delayed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Blair added that he is concerned that - in the times of social-distancing regulations - the increasing number of people staying home may “exacerbate” domestic violence risks involving firearms.
“Nova Scotia certainly strengthened our resolve,” Blair added.
