Canada looks at nationwide ban on handguns and assault weapons
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This post was written and reported by contributor Bryant Telfer through our new Daily Kos freelance program. After a particularly dangerous summer of gun violence in Canada and two mass shootings sparking public outcry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dCanada looks at nationwide ban on handguns and assault weapons
This post was written and reported by contributor Bryant Telfer through our new Daily Kos freelance program. After a particularly dangerous summer of gun violence in Canada and two mass shootings sparking public outcry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done something that would perhaps be unthinkable in America: he’s called on government officials to examine the impact of a full ban on handguns and assault weapons. Shootings in Toronto and Fredericton have been a flashpoint for an already growing urgency about the gun debate. On July 22, two people were killed and eight others wounded after a gunman fired into restaurants and patios packed with evening patrons on one of Toronto’s busiest streets. On Aug. 10, four people, including two police officers, were shot to death in an apartment complex by another resident for yet unknown reasons. The percentage of crimes involving handguns has grown by 30 percent over the past four years in Canada. In addition, a Canadian Press report this summer stated that more than 40 percent of weapons used in crimes in Canada are of domestic origin, bought by straw purchasers who are legally licensed and then sell the weapons illegally to others. That report has come under fire recently, as Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials failed to locate records to support the stated rise in domestically-sourced firearms in either their Ottawa or Edmonton archives, and Toronto Police officials released information that stated only 9 percent of weapons seized in 2017 originated in Canada. While an all-out ban on handguns and assault weapons is broadly supported by the majority of Canadians, it faces entrenched opposition from a number of groups and communities across the country, with the strongest divide along rural-urban lines. Read more