Inquiry into N.S. mass shooting calls for sweeping changes to gun laws

The inquiry into a mass shooting that left 22 people dead in Nova Scotia in 2020 is calling on the federal government to ban all semi-automatic handguns and many types of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.

The Mass Casualty Commission released its final report today, making a series of recommendations aimed at tightening gun laws.

That includes developing a "standardized schedule and definitions" of 206 prohibited firearms in the Criminal Code.

Parliament is still debating gun-control legislation introduced last May by the Liberals, which included a proposed amendment to enshrine a definition of assault-style firearms in federal law.

On April 18 and 19, 2020, a gunman dressed as a police officer and driving a mock police cruiser killed 22 people, including a pregnant woman, during a 13-hour-long rampage in rural Nova Scotia.

All five of the weapons he used during the killings were obtained illegally, and he did not have a license to own firearms.