Are Weapons Illegal in Canada? Key questions answered by Reuters

By Nia Williams

(Reuters) – The Canadian government on Monday introduced legislation to implement a national freeze on the sale and purchase of small arms as part of a weapons control package that would also limit magazine capacity and ban any toy-like toy.

The new legislation comes just a week after an armed man killed 19 children and two teachers in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

Here are key details about Canada’s gun control laws:

ARE WEAPONS ILLEGAL IN CANADA?

No. Canada has much stricter gun laws than the United States, but Canadians are allowed to own firearms provided they have a license. Restricted or prohibited firearms, such as small arms, must also be registered.

Canadians must be over 18 and pass a gun safety course to have a license, which is renewed every five years.

Children aged 12-17 can get a minor driver’s license, which allows them to borrow unlimited firearms like most rifles or shotguns for hunting or shooting competitions and buy ammunition.

Exceptions can be made for under 12s, including native children, who need to hunt to support themselves and their families.

Indigenous people who engage in traditional hunting methods may not need to take a gun safety course if it is too far away or expensive. Instead, they can ask for alternative certification based on a recommendation from an elderly person in the community who confirms that they have the necessary knowledge about firearms.

Canada banned the sale and use of about 1,500 models of assault weapons, such as the AR-15 rifle, two years ago in the wake of a mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia.

HOW MANY WEAPONS ARE IN CANADA?

The number of registered handguns in Canada increased by 71 percent between 2010 and 2020, reaching about 1.1 million, according to the federal government.

A survey of small arms from 2017 estimated that there were 12.7 million firearms in civilian possession in Canada, and there are an estimated 34.7 firearms per capita. 100 people.

WHERE IS WEAPONSHIP CONCENTRATED?

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, more than 2.2 million people had gun licenses by 2020.

Most of them were in Ontario and Quebec, the two most densely populated provinces, followed by the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.

An Angus Reid survey from 2019 showed that most guns in Canada are found in rural areas and are used for hunting and recreational shooting.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DIE FROM ARMED VIOLENCE IN CANADA?

Canada’s rate of firearms killings is 0.5 per. 100,000 people, against the U.S. rate of 4.12, the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said in a 2021 analysis.

HOW MANY MASS SHOTS HAS CANADA SEA LAST?

1989 – 14 female engineering students are killed in their classroom at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec.

1992 – Four professors are shot and killed by a colleague at Concordia University, Montreal.

2006 – A gunman kills a woman and wounds 19 others in a shooting at Dawson College in Montreal.

2016 – A teenager kills four people in La Loche, Saskatchewan.

2017 – Six Muslim men are killed in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City.

2020 – An armed man driving a fake police car shoots 13 people and kills another nine in a fire he set in Portapique, Nova Scotia.

IS THERE RESISTANCE TO STRICTER WEAPON CONTROL?

A March 2021 survey by polling firm Leger found that 66% of respondents said there should be stricter gun control in Canada.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. The Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights called the new legislation a “massive suction.”

Alberta’s firearms chief Teri Bryant said the government’s proposed freeze on the sale of small arms would be a “huge encroachment” on property rights and privacy and called it “virtue signaling” by the government.

She called for hiring more firearms officers to ensure a more prompt and thorough investigation instead.