Canada enacts new gun laws

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday an immediate ban on the sale and use of semi-automatic rifles. He said Parliament would work out the details of a two-year grace period for gun owners, but noted, “Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import, or use military-grade, assault weapons in this country.”

Why the strong stance? Trudeau cited numerous mass shootings in the country, including the rampage that killed 22 people in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19. Two of the guns used by the suspect in that shooting are among the banned weapons. The list includes 1,500 models and variants of rifles such as the AR-15. Opposition Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer accused the prime minister of using the “immediate emotion of the horrific attack in Nova Scotia to push the Liberals’ ideological agenda.”

Dig deeper: Read Onize Ohikere’s report in The Sift on a similar weapons ban in New Zealand after the 2019 mass shooting at mosques in the city of Christchurch.