🌏 Canada Proposes To Freeze Handgun Ownership, Spain's "Only Yes Means Yes" Bill And More

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a bill that would place a national freeze on handgun ownership across Canada.

If passed, the legislation would not stop people from owning handguns completely but would make it illegal to buy, sell, transport and import handguns.

“As we see gun violence continue to rise, it is our duty to keep taking action,” Trudeau said. “The fewer guns in our community, and safer everyone will be.”

The announcement comes in the wake of high-profile mass shootings in the US in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.

The bill would also require permanently altering long gun magazines so they can never hold more than five rounds.

Only people who are elite sport shooters and those with authorization to carry guns such as security guards would be exempt from the restrictions, CBC reported. Handgun owners will be able to keep their firearms.

The new bill will effectively limit the number of legally-owned handguns in Canada.

In April 2020, Canada introduced a ban on military-style assault weapons 12 days after the worst mass shooting in the country’s history that left 22 people dead.

Also Happening Around The World

🇫🇷 Museum-goers at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, were surprised on Sunday May 29, after a man who was disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair got up and threw a cake at the Mona Lisa.

🇯🇵 Japan is set to approve the abortion pill but women will still need to get their partner’s consent to use it.

Spain’s lower house of Congress has approved a new bill that states that lack of sexual consent is sufficient to prove sexual assault.

The bill – known as the “only yes means yes” bill – comes after a series of court cases in which five men were jailed for sexual abuse, and not rape, after they gang-raped an 18-year-old woman at the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona in 2016.

The men’s lawyer at the time had argued that the woman had consented because she was immobile and had her eyes closed in the video taken by one of the men.

According to Spanish law, victims of sexual assault have to prove either intimidation, violence, or resistance had happened during the event for it to be considered sexual assault.

The “only yes means yes” bill expands the definition of aggression in sexual assault to lack of consent, which is defined as the clear expression of someone’s will.

Those found guilty of non-consensual sex can face up to years 15 years in prison.

The bill also seeks to establish special courts and 24-hour crisis centers for victims of sexual offenses, as well as increase jail penalties for work-related sexual harassment and make street harassment a criminal offense, according to the Guardian.

The bill will become law after the Spanish Senate votes in favor of it.

More Women You Should Know About

🇳🇿 New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, received a standing ovation as she discussed democracy, gun reform and disinformation during her commencement speech at Harvard.

🇦🇺 A record number of 13 women have been appointed to Australia’s government by newly elected prime minister Anthony Albanese.

The Church of Scotland has voted to allow its clergy to officiate same-sex marriages for the first time.

The church’s general assembly, its decision-making body, voted 274 to 136 on Monday May 23rd to allow its ministers to apply to marry same-sex couples.

Ministers who do not wish to perform same-sex marriages can refuse a request.

Scotland legalized same-sex marriage in 2014. The move makes the the Church of Scotland the largest church in the UK to allow same-sex marriages.

The Church of Scotland, which is Protestant, already allows gay ministers to marry, according to the Guardian.

The church will also update its regulation to replace references to the term “husband” and “wife” in marriages to “parties”.

More Good News For Your Week

🇮🇳 India’s Supreme Court has ruled sex workers, like people in any other profession, deserve equal protection and to live with dignity under the law.

🇨🇳 Scientist have found an ancient forest inside a sinkhole in China which may contain unknown plants and animals.

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