OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the federal government is immediately placing a ban on 1,500 models and variants of certain assault-style weapons that have been used in mass shootings in Canada and abroad.
“Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country,” Trudeau said.
The prime minister described the sweeping regulations as “closing the market” on these weapons in Canada.
This is being done by changing the classification of these guns in Canada, moving them from non-restricted or restricted class, to “prohibited.”
The prime minister spoke about how every Canadian can remember the day they realized how “a man with a gun could irrevocably alter our lives for the worse.”
Citing a list of mass shootings in Canada, Trudeau said they “shape our identity” and “stain our conscience,” and are happening more and more often.
The prime minister is making the announcement alongside Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Justice Minister David Lametti, and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on Parliament Hill.
The ban includes guns that have been used in past Canadian shootings, such as:
the Ruger Mini-14 which was used in the Ecole Polytechnique massacre in Montreal in 1989, which the government estimates there are 16,860 currently in circulation in Canada;
the M14 semi-automatic which was used in the 2014 Moncton shooting, which the government estimates there are 5,230 in Canada;
the Beretta CX4 Storm which was used in the Dawson College shooting, which the government estimates there are approximately 1,510 currently in circulation; and
the CSA-VZ-58 which the gunman attempted to use in the Quebec Mosque shooting, which the government says there are 11,590 in Canada.
Another one of the firearms on Canada’s list of federally prohibited weapons is the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which was used by the gunman who killed 50 people at a Christchurch, New Zealand mosque in 2019, as well as in other mass shootings in the United States including the Sandy Hook and Las Vegas massacres. A handful of similar models are also on the list, as well as guns with muzzle energy exceeding 10,000 joules and those with calibres exceeding 20 millimeters.
Blair, a former police chief, has been stickhandling the federal government’s gun policy and he said that “from this moment forward, the number of these guns will only decrease in Canada.”
Noting that the “vast majority” of gun owners use them safely and lawfully, the government is putting in place a two-year amnesty period to protect those with these guns from criminal liability until they can take steps to comply with the new rules.
Less than a month after the Christchurch attack, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her government outlawed most automatic and semi-automatic weapons as well as components to modify existing weapons. Trudeau was scheduled to speak with Ardern on Friday.
The move has been cabinet-approved and the reclassification of these weapons can be done through an order-in-council rather than legislation, though future gun control measures are expected to be introduced.
'MORE THAN THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS'
In the wake of the mass shooting that killed 22 people in Nova Scotia earlier this month, Trudeau said he intended on pushing ahead with the Liberal election promise of banning military-style assault weapons.
Referencing this month’s Nova Scotia rampage, Trudeau said the victims’ families “deserve more than thoughts and prayers.”
“This chapter in our history cannot be rewritten, but what happens next is up to us. We can stick to thoughts and prayers alone, or we can unite as a country and put an end to this,” Trudeau said.
On Friday, Trudeau restated his position that guns designed to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time have no place in Canada.
He has previously said that the federal government was “on the verge” of moving ahead on gun control legislation before the pandemic caused Parliament to suspend.
Expected in future legislation is a buyback program for military-style assault rifles purchased legally in Canada, tougher safe-storage laws, and strengthened penalties for smuggling guns into Canada. The government has also committed to crack down on handguns.
In the last Parliament, the Liberals made changes to the rules related to firearm ownership, including broadening background checks for gun owners, toughening rules around the transportation of handguns, and increasing record-keeping requirements for the sale of firearms. It also repealed changes made by the previous Conservative government and the federal Tories have vowed to reverse these changes.
Trudeau called Friday’s announcement the “next step” in their gun control policy, and said he’s already spoke with other party leaders about future legislation.
