Canada moves to ban toy guns amid Texas shooting outcry

Just days after a deadly school shooting rocked a small Texas town, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for sweeping gun control legislation, urging lawmakers to pass a “national freeze” on the sale and purchase of handguns and a nationwide ban on toy guns.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the progressive leader said the new measures were essential as gun violence continues to rise across Canada, Reuters reported.

"We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and gets more difficult to counter," he said.

Although Canada has more stringent gun legislation than its southern neighbor, gun violence has been on the rise in recent years and presently stands at a much higher rate than other G7 nations, even registering five times more gun related deaths than Australia in 2020.

Canada already banned the sale and use of upwards of 1,500 models of assault weapons – including the AR-15 rifle – following the deadly mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia, but the new move would now include handguns in the ban.

Furthermore, the new legislation would prevent anyone who has engaged in domestic violence, stalking or who has a restraining order against them from obtaining or keeping a gun license. It would also require long-gun magazines to be altered to only fit five rounds and effectively ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.

Notably, too, the bill would ban the sale of toys that look like real guns.

"Because they look the same as real firearms, police need to treat them as if they are real. This has led to tragic consequences," Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters.

Canadian Police Association President Tom Stamatakis also welcomed the news of the fake gun ban, noting that the toys posed a “big challenge.”

"You cannot distinguish between what's a replica firearm and what's a real firearm, particularly when these incidences involving replica firearms occur often in very dynamic, quickly evolving circumstances."