Canada has announced that it will ban the import of handguns as part of a larger proposed freeze in response to high-profile mass shootings in the United States.
The announcement was made on Friday by the Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino at a press briefing who added that Such guns “have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to kill people.”
The ban will take effect from August 19, according to the minister.
In a statement, Global Affairs Canada noted that the nationwide freeze, which is anticipated to take effect by the fall, will be followed by a temporary ban on both firms and individuals.
The announcement was welcomed by arms control group PolySeSouvient, which called it an “important and innovative measure that will undoubtedly slow the expansion of the Canadian handgun market pending the passage” of the handgun freeze.
The Canada Border Services Agency reported two significant “ghost gun” seizures in western Canada on Wednesday. The weapons lack serial numbers and were challenging to track down.
The announcement on Friday comes after Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, suggested a countrywide firearm ownership freeze in May.
The announcement of the freeze followed two notably publicised mass shootings in the United States: the killing of 21 people, largely children, at a Texas elementary school, and the killing of 10 people, mostly African Americans, at a New York supermarket.
Following Trudeau’s remarks, Canadians flocked to gun shops, and stock levels dropped quickly.
According to government estimates, there are more than one million handguns in Canada, which has a population of 38 million.
Some 2,500 stores sell handguns in the country.
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