Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is vowing to move quickly to ban the sale of military-style assault weapons after a massacre in Nova Scotia reignited calls for stricter gun control measures.
The death toll from the weekend's shooting rampage in the country's east has risen to 23 police said on Tuesday, after remains were found in burnt-out homes and vehicles.
"We believe there to be 23 victims, including a 17-year-old (girl). All other victims are adults, both men and women," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
As shocked Canadians struggle to understand the tragedy, gun control advocates are calling on Mr Trudeau's government to enact the long-promised restrictions.
"We implore you to take one decisive, achievable action right now: ban the new sale of military-style assault weapons," a coalition of four gun control groups wrote in an open letter to federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on Monday.
Military-style assault weapons on display. Source: The New York Times
"As has been well documented, these guns pose an excessive risk to public safety and serve no reasonable purpose."
Speaking at his daily briefing in Ottawa, Mr Trudeau said the Liberal government was on the verge of introducing the proposed legislation when parliament was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The government is looking "at the right way and the right moment to bring it forward," Mr Trudeau said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Source: Getty
Police have identified the killer as Gabriel Wortman, a 51-year-old denturist and owner of a clinic in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Investigators were still looking for a motive for the shooting spree that unfolded in four different communities on late Saturday and early Sunday, stretching over 100km, police said.
While some of the victims were known to Wortman others appeared to have been targeted randomly, officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have said.
Wortman was seen wearing a police uniform and driving an exact replica of a police cruiser before commandeering another car during the pursuit.
They RCMP refused to discuss what kind of weapons Wortman used and whether they were obtained legally.
Canada first adopted strict gun control legislation in the years following the 1989 Montreal Massacre, when a lone gunman killed 14 female engineering students at Ecole Polytechnique and injured 28 others before turning the gun on himself.
The minority Liberal government will have to seek the support of the left-of-centre opposition parties in parliament to push the proposed ban on certain types of semi-automatic rifles through.
The Conservative Party has opposed stricter gun control measures in the past.
