WASHINGTON – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented a bill on Monday to freeze the purchase and sale of new firearms in the country, after last week’s shooting at a Texas school ( USA) that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
“In In other words, we are limiting the market for firearms,” the prime minister announced during an event to present the measure with members of his government.
If Parliament approves the bill, The purchase, sale and importation of weapons throughout Canada will be prohibited.
In addition, the weapons licenses will be withdrawn from those who commit sexist violence or harassment, and criminal sanctions against arms trafficking will be increased, which will go from maximum penalties of 10 to 14 years in prison.
It will also prohibit chargers from of long guns carry more than five bullets.
Although the measure does not imply a total ban on the possession of weapons in Canada, it does seek to significantly limit the presence of weapons in the country by freezing their purchase .
The Trudeau government banned two years ago about 1,500 models of assault weapons , including the AR-15, rifle used by Salvador Ramos, the Uvalde school attacker, in Texas .
The Canadian authorities announced on Monday that the government will buy the assault weapons that remain in private hands.
According to data from the Canadian government, in 2020 there were 1.1 million firearms in the country, an increase of 71% in comparison with 2010.
Last Tuesday, Salvador Ramos, a young man of 18 years old, broke into at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde (Texas) with an AR-15 rifle with which he killed 19 children and two teachers, being the deadliest shooting in a school in the United States since Sandy Hook in 2012.
The massacre has reopened the eternal debate on weapons in the United States, where the Democrats are committed to approving background checks for weapons buyers, something that that Republicans oppose, that they believe n that mass shootings should be addressed as a mental health issue.
Following the shooting, Trudeau declared that he was “heartbroken” and announced that he would introduce measures to limit guns in Canada.