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Canadians crack down on guns, alarmed by flow from U.S.

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D

Dram

Member
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-gun-problem-is-creeping-into-canada/2016/02/13/a28cd1e4-c388-11e5-b933-31c93021392a_story.html
Canada bans most guns and has a minuscule number of gun-related homicides a year. But, worried about smuggled firearms from the United States, its government is preparing to stiffen its already tough gun laws and step up border surveillance.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised new regulations and a string of measures to counter gun smuggling, which is regarded here as a dangerous problem underscoring the United States’ much looser firearm laws.

The move comes as police have discovered an increased number of high-powered handguns and semiautomatic and automatic weapons in Canadian cities.

Since 2005, Toronto has had the worst of it. As gun battles broke out across the city between rival street gangs that year, innocent people got caught in the crossfire.

Homicides in Toronto spiked to 80 in 2005, from 64 in 2004, and the majority were shooting-related. About 70 percent of the guns used were handguns and automatic weapons smuggled from the United States, police say.

Since then, the number of shootings has decreased, but the danger still lurks. How many trafficked guns cross the border is unknown. But the Canadian Border Services Agency said there has been a continued increase in gun seizures. In 2012, agents seized 226 illegal weapons (mostly handguns). By 2015, that figure had risen to 316.

Toronto police last month responded to the threat posed by high-powered firearms by announcing that the city’s 17 precincts would acquire 50 semiautomatic, short-barreled assault rifles, raising fears about the militarization of Canadian police.

Yet compared with the United States, the incidence of gun violence in Canada, which has a population of 35.2 million people, is almost minute. The latest figures, from 2014, show only 156 gun-related homicides in Canada compared with 10,945 in its more populous southern neighbor.

What alarms Canadians is that the figures show an increase of 21 gun-
related killings in 2014, a rise of about 16 percent.

Handguns in Canada are mostly forbidden — with an exception for types used for target shooting. So are machine guns, silencers and large magazines. Semiautomatics are heavily restricted.

To obtain a gun license, Canadians must go through extensive background checks that include criminal-record and mental health checks as well as interviews with family members and former spouses. The application process can take up to six months.
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F

Frankfurter

Member
Someone should run for PM in Canada and say that he'll build a wall to protect Canadas citizens - and will make America pay for it.
 
F

farisr

Member
There was a multiple stabbing incident that happened at a high school over here yesterday where a student showed up with two knives and randomly started attacking other students and teachers.

Thankfully no one was seriously harmed and the teachers were able to disarm and pin the student down.

Could've been so much worse if guns were easier to get over here, the person had blog posts wishing they had access to guns so they could kill as many people as possible before committing suicide.
 
S

Sch1sm

Member
Homicides in Toronto spiked to 80 in 2005, from 64 in 2004, and the majority were shooting-related. About 70 percent of the guns used were handguns and automatic weapons smuggled from the United States, police say.
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Och. I remember that. 2005 was even called Summer of the Gun.
My cousin was one of the people killed around that time. ;_;

RPGCrazied said:
Wow, I want to live in Canada.

Sounds like night/day from the gun hungry nut crowd we have in America.
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Well, you can still get guns. You just need a licence. The first one, the PAL, only allows like...long guns/rifles, hunting stuff. The RPAL allows all of that and then handguns and AR-15s. We still have very strict laws about how they should be transported, etc, though.
 
S

Silver Arrows

Banned
farisr said:
There was a stabbing that happened at a high school over here yesterday where a student showed up with two knives and randomly started slashing other students and teachers.

Thankfully no one was seriously harmed and the teachers were able to disarm and pin the perpetrator down.

Could've been so much worse if guns were easier to get over here, the person had blog posts wishing they had access to guns so they could kill as many people as possible before committing suicide.
Click to expand...

Yet we have kids getting shot in Surrey and surrounding areas in an ongoing 'low level drug war' and the RCMP isn't doing jack. It's slowed down now compared to the summer, but it still worries me that it could flare up again.
 
P

Piggus

Member
Canada doesn't ban most guns from what I'm aware, they just have a much more sensible system for obtaining one. They can actually get certain types of guns much easier than we can.
 
T

theRizzle

Member
Piggus said:
Canada doesn't ban most guns from what I'm aware, they just have a much more sensible system for obtaining one. They can actually get certain types of guns much easier than we can.
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I mean it's not technically a ban but a handgun is nearly impossible to get legally for the average person. You need a "Restricted" firearm license to buy a handgun, and even then you need to provide a reason why you need it. "I just want one" is not a valid reason. They tend to be issued to hunters as protection (in this case they will look into your past applications for hunting tags and licenses to confirm you are a hunter) and almost never in urban areas.

It is possible to get one just for range shooting, but you need to prove that you are already a member of good standing at that range. You then are permitted to transport your handgun to and from the range from the location the weapon is registered. That's it. You aren't even supposed to stop for gas or go to a drive-thru for food.

If anyone is interested, here is some more info about handguns in Canada.
 
A

Alric

Member
Netherscourge said:
Canada needs to build a wall to keep out Americans.
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o-CANADA-WALL-SOUTH-PARK-facebook.jpg
 
L

LookAtMeGo

Member
I was shot once in the back while I was playing in the forest with my friends. It took a while to recover from my paintball wound.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Now what are the Trailer Park Boys going to do when that scum bag Cyrus rolls up on them?
 
L

Lexxism

Member
I remember reading an article that some republicans wants to build a wall between US and Canada. I hope they are definitely considering building one.
 
T

Tabris

Member
Silver Arrows said:
Yet we have kids getting shot in Surrey and surrounding areas in an ongoing 'low level drug war' and the RCMP isn't doing jack. It's slowed down now compared to the summer, but it still worries me that it could flare up again.
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I give Surrey a hard time because I think it's a cesspool, but the Americans in this thread won't understand the perspective here and they need to.

That "low level drug war" and violent crime he's speaking about is statistically not even close to what most major cities in the US experience, both in scale and per capita. At the height of the low level drug war, there was 6 murders in 3 months. And this is one of the most violent cities in Canada.
 
N

nillah

Banned
Lexxus said:
I remember reading an article that some republicans wants to build a wall between US and Canada. I hope they are definitely considering building one.
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Yeah and than you gut a canal straight through the U.S. merging the Atalantic and Pacific Ocean allowing the tides of the oceans to power the North American grid for years to come
 
D

diaspora

Member
nillah said:
Funny thing is western Canada is night/day difference compared to the East side
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I wouldn't call Edmonton or Vancouver night/day from Toronto or Montreal. Nor would I call the suburban/rural areas surrounding Calgary and in BC night/day from the conservative swaths of suburban and rural Ontario and Quebec.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
People in the US don't hear this enough but a humongous reason for gun violence in Mexico (which also has strict gun laws like Canada) is directly linked to the US of A because of their demand for illegal drugs that get supplies by our drug traffickers. Drugs gets smuggled into the US and American firearms are smuggled into Mexico to feed the cartels.

The gun issue and the much misinterpreted 2nd amendment directly affects millions outside the US borders.
 
Darkangel

Darkangel

Member
Piggus said:
Canada doesn't ban most guns from what I'm aware, they just have a much more sensible system for obtaining one. They can actually get certain types of guns much easier than we can.
Click to expand...

Yep, Canadian gun laws are a lot more open then most people realize. Once you obtain your PAL and/or RPAL you can own a pretty wide variety of firearms. For those who don't know, a PAL (Possession and Acquisition License) is essentially a gun license that allows you to purchase and own non-restricted firearms. In order to get this license you simply need to pass a safety training course, then mail away for it. If you want to own restricted firearms (i.e. a handgun), then you need to complete an additional safety course on top of your PAL. Restricted firearms can only be used at designated shooting sites, while non-restricted firearms can be used more freely (hunting, on your own property).

Examples of non-restricted firearms (PAL required):
Israeli Tar-21 Assault Rifle
tavor_dis.jpg


PTRS-41 Soviet Anti-Tank Rifle
ptrs_1.jpg
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Examples of restricted firearms (RPAL required):
American AR-15 Assault Rifle
JnRvYEt.png


Desert Eagle .50 Handgun
QP0hBAt.jpg
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Illegal prohibited firearms include fully-automatic weapons and certain hand-selected weapons (M-16 derivatives for example). Contrary to popular belief, Canada has no blanket restriction on assault weapons. Guns are usually classified based on their barrel length.

I think we have a pretty fair system, and based on our crime statistics, I'd say its been working. This is a bit of a rambling post, but I find a lot of people online assume that Canada has England-style gun restrictions.
 
G

GhostBed

Member
Darkangel said:
I think we have a pretty fair system, and based on our crime statistics, I'd say its been working. This is a bit of a rambling post, but I find a lot of people online assume that Canada has England-style gun restrictions.
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I love these gun restrictions. They make a ton of sense and good, "law abiding gun owners" should have no problems with them. Who knew we had such a sensible example of gun restrictions just north of the border?
 
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