Canada moves to tighten its gun laws

OTTAWA >> In a scene more common in Canada’s neighbor to the south, a shootout at a Toronto bowling alley last weekend left a suspected gang member dead. A 29-year-old woman was caught in the crossfire and later died at a hospital.

For a country proud of its largely peaceful streets and much lower levels of gun violence than in the United States, a recent rash of gang-related shootouts has captured public attention and reignited calls for stricter gun controls.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is heeding those calls, announcing last week a proposed law that would require more detailed background checks for gun owners and force retailers to maintain records of gun sales for at least 20 years.

The move comes as the United States is grappling with the fallout from the school shooting last month at Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead and prompted a renewed wave of legislative efforts to tighten gun laws.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who proposed the gun-control legislation last week, has pointed out, using official government statistics, that gun-related homicides in Canada are “up by two-thirds” since 2013. He recently convened a special guns and gangs summit in Ottawa to map out possible actions to counter the trend.

(The minister’s claim of sharply higher gun crime has since been challenged by criminologists and statisticians, who argue that 2013 was a year with the lowest homicide rate in almost 50 years.)