Trudeau plan to ban handgun sales ‘will not reduce crime’

CANADIAN gun sellers are running out of weapons after a surge in demand in the run-up to a proposed ban by Justin Trudeau.

The prime minister announced plans for a freeze on handgun sales after a mass shooting in Texas in which 21 people, including 19 children, were killed.

The bill, which still needs to pass through parliament, would outlaw buying, selling, transferring and importing short-barrelled firearms. Gun stores across Canada reported a rise in demand after the announcement. Some ran out of stock within days. In parts of the country, customers were lining up in the street, desperate to get a firearm before the ban.

“Almost all stores are sold out, including me,” said Josko Kovic, owner of Doubletap sports in Toronto.

Mr Trudeau’s announcement had prompted a rise in panic buying. Jen Lavigne, co-owner of That Hunting Store in the capital Ottawa, said it had sold 100 handguns in three days.

“This measure is only going to hurt legal gun owners,” she said. “It’s not going to reduce any of the crime because the bad guys don’t follow the rules.”

With 30.8 gun crimes per 100 residents, Canada is ranked 13th globally for firearms violence. The United States, with 88.8, comes in first.

It is estimated that there are one million handguns in Canada, which has a population of 38 million. Laws are stricter than in the US, with owners required to have a firearms licence. Purchasers are also subject to background checks, which take at least 28 days.

South of the border, there was little sign the gun violence was abating. Three people were killed and 11 wounded in Philadelphia on Saturday, and in Phoenix, Arizona, a 14-year-old girl was killed and eight people injured after a shooting in a shopping centre.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have already been 245 mass shootings in the US this year, in which at least four people have been killed or injured.

The latest figure included 14 people who were shot in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Jen Lavigne, co-owner of That Hunting Store, on the outskirts of Ottawa, said Justin Trudeau’s proposed ban will not work as ‘bad guys don’t follow the rules’