In the wake of a deadly shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his administration is moving ahead with stricter gun laws.
“In regards to gun control, we took very serious commitments in the election campaign and have moved forward — and are moving forward on them — to ensure that we’re strengthening gun control in this country,” Trudeau told reporters
A 51-year-old gunman killed 18 people in Nova Scotia over the weekend, including a police constable, a corrections officer, a nurse and a teacher, and led police on a miles-long,12-hour manhunt across the Canadian province that ended in his death.
The shooting spree was one of Canada’s deadliest.
Authorities have not said what kind of weapons the gunman used.
Trudeau said while campaigning last year that he wanted to ban assault-style weapons across Canada and set up a buyback program for all military-grade weapons that had been legally purchased. Legislation was about to be introduced when Parliament was suspended over the coronavirus pandemic, Trudeau said.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil called the shootings one of the most senseless acts of violence in the province’s history.
“I never imagined when I went to bed last night that I would wake up to the horrific news that an active shooter was on the loose in Nova Scotia,” he said.