Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bans all assault-style firearms

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Ottawa, May 2 (Canadian-Media): A ban of over 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms was announced May 1 by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, weeks after worst mass shooting in Canada's history by a gunman in Nova Scotia claiming 22 lives, media reports said.

Justin Trudeau. Image credit: Official website

A full list of the firearms that have been banned is available through the Canada Gazette.

The newly prohibited firearms and components are prohibited for legal use, and cannot be sold or imported, Trudeau said.

Trudeau said that a two-year amnesty period would be provided for fair compensation to people who own these firearms.

All Canadians must be in compliance with the law by April 2022, and  gun owners who have not disposed of their banned firearms by that point could face sanctions under the Criminal Code.

While there is an amnesty period, the firearms cannot be used anywhere as of today. 

The firearms ban comes less than two weeks after the Nova Scotia gun massacre, an incident Trudeau called "the deadliest rampage in our country's history."

Coalition for Gun Control president Wendy Cukier said a ban like this was long overdue. 

Nova Scotia shooter used illegal firearms

The RCMP has confirmed that the Nova Scotia shooter used firearms obtained illegally in Canada and from U.S. sources to carry out his crimes. He was not licensed to own firearms.

Illegal firearms from U.S. sources are used in 70 to 90 per cent of all gun-related crimes.