Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, has announced that Canada will be banning all military-style assault weapons after the worst mass shooting of the country’s history.
Thanks to the new law, over 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms will be banned.
The new ban will stop Canadians from being able to use, sell, and import these firearms and components.
These measures are going to bring a 2 year transition period, which will remove dangerous military firearms from communities helping to make sure that the residents of the country are secure.
Prime Minister Trudeau said:
Because of gun violence, people are dying, families are grieving, and communities are suffering. It must end. Assault-style firearms designed for military use have no place in Canada. By removing them from our streets, we will limit the devastating effects of gun-related violence and help make our country safer.
David Lametti, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada:
Weapons designed for the battlefield have no place on our streets or in our communities. Canadians gave us a clear mandate to ban these dangerous weapons. That is exactly what we are doing with the targeted measures we are announcing today.
Around 22 people in Nova Scotia were killed during a mass shooting on April 18 and 19, 2020.
51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, the gunman, was armed with 2 semi-automatic rifles and a number of semi-automatic pistols when he did the mass shooting.
The Nova Scotia shooter used a replica police car and an RCMP uniform to impersonate a police officer as he killed both people he knew and strangers.
He was fatally shot by officers.
Of the 22 people killed, 13 were shot and 9 died in house fires.