Justin Trudeau Canada gun control assault weapons

1,500 types of firearms banned in Canada in new gun control legislation

New regulations have been introduced in response to last week’s mass shooting in Nova Scotia.

In the wake of the mass shooting in Nova Scotia last week, 1,500 models and variants of firearms, primarily assault weapons, are being banned in Canada, by way of new gun control regulations. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the ban in a press conference about gun control this morning, after sharing his memory of hearing about the Polytechnique shooting in Montreal in 1989, and listing other devastating rampages that have happened in Canada in the years since.

“Today, we are closing the market for military-grade assault weapons in Canada,” Prime Minister Trudeau said. “We are banning 1,500 models and variants of these firearms by way of regulations. These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada.

“For many families including, many indigenous people, firearms are part of traditions passed on through generations, and the vast majority of gun owners use them safely and responsibly, and in accordance with the law, whether it be for work, sports shooting or collecting, or for hunting. But you do not need an AR-15 to bring down a deer. So, effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country. To protect law-abiding gun owners from criminal liability until they can take steps to comply with this new law, there will be a two-year amnesty. And we will legislate fair compensation.”

For more breaking news, please visit our News section for more updates on COVID-19 / Coronavirus.

To read the latest issue of Cult MTL, please click here.

To vote for your favourite Montreal people and things in the Best of MTL readers poll, please also click here.