The federal government will provide $1 billion in funding to help provinces ban handguns, while making the firearms buyback program mandatory, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Thursday. The government has introduced new legislation to address gun-related crimes, such as a ban of over 1,500 assault-type rifles that went into effect on May 1, 2020, Mendicino said during a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. In February, the government introduced Bill C-21, which establishes a “non-permissive storage possession regime,” allowing lawful owners of the firearms banned on May 1, 2020, the option to keep their firearms under strict conditions. “Now that we have banned assault rifles, we have to take the next steps and implement a buyback program,” Mendicino said. “To all the survivors and advocacy groups … we are listening to you, we are going to make the buyback program mandatory.” Mendicino also told the …
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