"Today, our national freeze on handguns is coming into force. From today forward, it is no longer legal to buy, sell or transfer a handgun in Canada. We have frozen the market for handguns in this country," Trudeau said.
He also recalled that the ban on handgun imports that Canada imposed in August remains in place.
Trudeau noted that the number of handguns in Canada has increased by 70% in the past 12 years, and firearms-related homicides have gone up nearly 40% since 2011.
"Our goal overtime is to see gun violence reduced," Trudeau stated.