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Diaranson 1 Juni 2022

Canada to cap the market for handguns with new law

By ROB GILLIES pacity magazines under the
Associated Press Criminal Code.
TORONTO (AP) — Ca- "Canada can teach us a lot,"
nadian Prime Minister tweeted Bruce Heyman, a
Justin Trudeau's govern- former U.S. ambassador to
ment introduced legisla- Canada under the Obama
tion Monday that would administration.
put a freeze on importing, Trudeau said his government
buying or selling hand- recognizes the vast majority
guns. of Canadians who own guns
are responsible but the level
"We are capping the number of gun violence is unaccept-
of handguns in this country," able. Mendicino said they
Trudeau said. are aware the announcement
The regulations to halt the could lead to a rush to buy
growth of personally owned guns before the law is en-
handguns is expected to be acted and urged Parliament
enacted this fall. to pass it as soon as possible.
"It will be illegal to buy, sell, The new measures are as-
transfer or import handguns sured of passing in Canada's
anywhere in Canada," the Parliament as the ruling
prime minister said. Families Liberals and leftist opposi-
of shooting victims joined tion New Democrats have
him at a press conference in enough votes.
Ottawa. Canada has taken in a genera- easy access to guns, though removal of gun licenses from Pierre Poilievre, who is run-
Canada already has plans to tion. the U.S. population also is far people involved in acts of do- ning to be leader of the
ban 1,500 types of military- "Countries that do a good larger than Canada's. mestic violence or criminal Conservative party, said law-
style firearms and offer a job of controlling guns do a Blair noted guns are often harassment, such as stalking. abiding gun owners should
mandatory buyback program good job of controlling gun smuggled in illegally from The bill would create a new be respected and dangerous
that will begin at the end violence," Mendicino said in the U.S., which he noted has "red flag" law allowing courts criminals should be jailed.
of the year. Trudeau said if an interview with The Asso- one of the largest small arms to require that people consid- "Other than using firearms
someone really wants to keep ciated Press. arsenals in the world. ered a danger to themselves for sport shooting and hunt-
their assault weapon it will be Bill Blair, minister of emer- The government plans to or others surrender their fire- ing, there is no reason any-
made completely inoperable. gency preparedness, said fight gun smuggling and traf- arms to police. The govern- one in Canada should need
Canada already expanded Canada is very different from ficking by increasing crimi- ment said the measure would guns in their everyday lives,"
background checks. the United States. nal penalties, providing more guard the safety of those ap- Trudeau said. "We need less
Trudeau has long had plans "In Canada, gun ownership is tools to investigate firearms plying through the process, gun violence.
to enact tougher gun laws a privilege not a right," Blair crimes and strengthening often women in danger of "We cannot let the gun de-
but the introduction of the said. "This is a principal that border measures. Trudeau domestic abuse, by protect- bate became so polarized that
new measure comes after differentiates ourselves from said increased funding al- ing their identities. nothing gets done. We cannot
mass shootings in Uvalde, many other countries in the ready helped border officials The government said it will let that happen in our coun-
Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., this world, notably our colleagues double the amount of smug- require rifle magazines to be try. This is about freedom.
month. and friends to the south." gled guns confiscated at the permanently altered so they People should be free to go to
Public Safety Minister Marco Canada has had far fewer U.S. border. can never hold more than the supermarket, their school
Mendicino called the legisla- mass shootings than the U.S. The government also said the five rounds and will ban the or their place of worship
tion the most significant step in part because of a lack of bill would also allow for the sale and transfer of large-ca- without fear."

Group urges ICC to probe alleged use of

mines in Libya war

According to the New York- Moammar Gadhafi, who was unmarked anti-personnel
based watchdog, new data has later killed. It has for years mines. The tablet was ob-
emerged from Libyan dem- been split between rival ad- tained by the BBC in early
ining groups linking merce- ministrations, each backed by 2021. A U.N. panel of ex-
naries from Russia's Wagner different militias and foreign perts said earlier this week
Group to the use of "banned powers. it considers the device to be
booby traps" in Libya during Lama Fakih, HRW's director authentic.
an offensive by east-based for Mideast and North Afri-
Libyan forces trying to cap- ca, said a "transparent and in-
ture the capital of Tripoli ternational" inquiry is needed
from rival militias. to look into the use of land
The Wagner Group backed mines around Tripoli.
the offensive of the east- The group said that a demin-
based forces led by com- ing group with the Tripoli-
mander Khalifa Hifter, who based Defense Ministry re-
was also supported at the ported that mines and other
time by the United Arab explosive ordnance killed at
Emirates, Egypt and Russia. least 130 people and wound-
Hifter's offensive collapsed ed 196, mostly civilians, be-
in the spring of 2020, when tween May 2020 and March
Turkey and Qatar stepped up 2022 in Tripoli's southern
their military support to his suburbs.
CAIRO (AP) — Human investigate allegations of rivals in western Libya. HRW cited a tablet left on a
Rights Watch on Tuesday the use of landmines in Libya plunged into turmoil Libyan battlefield by a Wag-
called for the Interna- 2019 by Russian paramili- after a NATO-backed upris- ner mercenary that contained
tional Criminal Court to taries fighting in Libya. ing in 2011 toppled dictator maps of the locations of 35