As Canadians scramble to buy handguns in the face of a promised ban on future sales, the country's socialist government announced a "temporary" handgun import ban. 

Liberal Party Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in May announced he would push for a "freeze" of law-abiding Canadians' privileges to buy, sell, transfer, or import handguns anywhere in the country. However, as eager residents are lining up at the country's 2,500 gun stores to pick up a pistol or revolver while they still can, Trudeau's government is ensuring dealer shelves will be empty by unilaterally adopting a policy to halt imports-- either by businesses or individuals-- while the ban, labeled Bill C-21, works its way through Parliament. 

"As a government, it is our duty to ensure that Canada remains one of the safest places to live in the world," said Trudeau-appointed Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs. "The import ban announced today will help to keep guns stay off our streets as we work towards implementing Bill C-21, reducing gun violence in the immediate term."

While there are several Canadian rifle makers, almost every handgun on the market in the country is brought in from Europe, Asia, or-- most commonly-- from the Americas. The sole domestic pistol maker, Black Creek Labs, only recently began promising a line of handguns but hasn't fully reached production yet and, with the Trudeau ban almost guaranteed, likely won't. 

The import ban will take effect on Aug.19 and gets its "temporary" label from Trudeau & Co as it is only set to "last until the national freeze comes into force."

There are some 1.1 million registered handguns in Canada, a figure that, according to government statistics, rose 71 percent between 2010 and 2020. Already cut off from a large slice of the international handgun market due to rigid import and licensing red tape, manufacturers like Glock have had to make special variants for Canadian consumers in past years.