Canada Agrees to Suspend US Gun Imports
Dateline: 02/05/00
Updated: 02/05/00 - 5:00 p.m. PST
The White House has clarified a report in today's New York Times that the United States had suspended gun exports to Canada.
According to White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, the Canadian government voluntarily agreed to stop buying licenses for gun sales after the U.S. State Department noticed a "very large increase, surge in the requests for licenses for things like handguns and rifles and ammunition." [White House Press Briefing]
When Canadian officials were unable to immediately explain the portion of the sales not intended for Canadian government and law enforcement, they placed a hold on the private commercial resellers of guns in Canada.
The action was taken to allow Canadian officials time to research the cause of the sudden surge in gun license sales, according to Lockhart.
Sale of firearm licenses to the Canadian government and law enforcement agencies will not be affected, said Lockhart.
Lockhart stressed that what had been sold were licenses to ship the firearms to Canadian commercial arms resellers rather than the actual guns.
The United States first started requiring licenses to export firearms to Canada in April of 1999. Since then, licenses for 115,000 handguns, 25,000 rifles and 200 million rounds of ammunition have been issued, according to the New York Times story.
The 115,000 handguns licensed for sale in Canada is more than to any country in the world and 10 times more than the total number of handguns licensed in the United Kingdom, France and Italy combined in 1998, the Times reported.
Canada's Firearms Act of 1995, is one of the most restrictive in the world, but authority for its administration comes from the individual provinces rather than the Canadian federal government.
Canadian gun control advocates feel this decentralization of enforcement weakens the Firearms Act and have petitioned the Canadian Supreme Court to shift total control of the law's enforcement from the provinces to the federal government (Related story from Calgary Herald)
Reference Resources
White House Press Briefing
Complete text of today's press briefing by Press Secretary Lockhart on which he clarifies the New York Times report.Gun Control Netlinks
Resources for learning about U.S. gun control regulations. From your About.com Guide.Calgary Herald Story on Canadian Gun Law
Parliament has the power to implement a national system of gun control because its primary aim is protection of public safety, gun control advocates say.Canadian Firearms Centre
The official site for information about Canada's Firearms Control Act of 1995. The Act requires a license for gun ownership.U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms - Firearms
The agency responsible for enforcement of U.S. firearms laws.
From other About.com Guide Sites |
Guns of the North
Canadian gun registration laws are much tougher than those in the U.S. Are they too tough? Civil Liberties Guide J.D. Tuccille takes a look.
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