Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has directed his ministers to examine a full ban on handgun and ‘assault weapons’. The move comes in the wake of the recent Danforth shooting which saw 3 killed and 13 more injured. Trudeau has issued a mandate letter to Bill Blair, the minister for Border Security and Organised Crime Reduction Minister to work with colleagues to examine banning handguns.

Blair will work with Canada’s Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale, to work on policy, regulations or legislation surrounding gun control. Trudeau’s mandate letter said: “You should lead an examination of a full ban on handguns and assault weapons in Canada, while not impeding the lawful use of firearms by Canadians.”

According to Canada’s CBC News the Prime Minister also said:

We’re looking at things that have been done around the world, things that have been done in other jurisdictions, looking at the best evidence, the best data, to make the right decisions to make sure that we are ensuring our citizens, our communities are safe into the future.

The executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, Tony Bernardo, responded to the news of a letter of mandate on the issue of gun control saying that “it’s very disappointing that an elected government would turn on two million law-abiding citizens that haven’t done anything wrong,” he expressed his shock at the move describing the possible move to ban certain firearms as ‘punitive measures’ concluding that “you don’t expect that stuff in a democracy.” Bernardo struck a defiant tone telling CBC that “If they want to start playing Russian roulette with the electorate, well okay, game on. If they think our community is going to meekly roll over and accept this, they’re in for a real big shake.”

According to the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have said they will form their own special purpose committee to look into the issue of gun violence in more detail.

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