Canadian PM Trudeau announces assault weapon ban, in response to the recent Nova Scotia mass shootings.
[R]ather than instituting a promised program that would require owners to surrender their guns in exchange for government compensation to remove them from civilian circulation, the government said on Friday the program will be voluntary. Current owners will be allowed to keep their guns beyond a two-year amnesty period.
Groups on both sides of the rancorous gun debate expressed dismay over the new measures.
“A partial buyback would be just one more disappointment in our 30-year battle for gun control,” said Nathalie Provost, who was struck four times in the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting and is a spokeswoman for the gun-control advocacy group Poly Remembers. “This could mean that tens of thousands of assault weapons will remain in the hands of their current owners, for generations.”
Gun enthusiasts, meanwhile, are “enraged and infuriated” and promising legal challenges, said Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
