Key takeaways:
- Montreal advocate says education is also a critical measure to lowering gun violence.
- Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has long stated the federal government must do more to ban guns in the nation, including a ban on handguns.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante says she greets the “strong signal” sent today by the federal government as it tabled new gun possession legislation.
“The national tools to battle against armed and domestic violence are again for Montreal and all of the nation’s cities,” she stated in a statement.
“We expect that the measure taken today by the Canadian government leads us toward the total ban of firearms on our territory and out of the reach of young people.”
Plante has long approved a federal prohibition on handguns, and while the new bill falls short of a complete ban, it would limit their number in Canada.
“We’re checking the market for handguns,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a press conference Monday.
“As we see gun violence continue to grow, we must keep taking action.”
On Monday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino presented the bill, C-21, in the House of Commons.
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“The bill we just tabled means a milestone amidst a long and difficult fight on our streets every day,” Mendicino told journalists later.
“It’s a war which has claimed too many lives, leaving vacant chairs at the dinner table and empty desks in our classrooms.”
Nathalie Provost, who was shot by four bullets in the Polytechnique shooting in 1989, stated the new legislation would help restrain the rise in Canadian gun violence.
“We still have to do more to reduce it,” she stated. “We have to do something strong, and I think this is a strong decision today.”
The provost commanded the Liberal government’s action for consulting the public and said she is “pleased” that legislators aren’t ruling out a federal rule on handguns. The handgun freeze is an excellent first step, she said.
Source – cbc.ca
