BREAKING: Newsom praises Trudeau's 'leadership' on gun safety over proposed handgun ban

California Governor Gavin Newsom praised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's "demonstrable leadership" when he moved "efficiently and effectively" on the issue of "gun safety," at a press conference in California on Thursday.

The Canadian prime minister announced at the end of May that his party would be moving forward with legislation that would see a freeze on the selling, buying, and importing of handguns in Canada.

Newsom said that Trudeau's actions were those of leadership, comparing that to the "cowards" in office in the United States.

"Let me just say, what matters is leadership," said Newsom, "and you saw leadership at scale, demonstrable leadership at scale when the prime minister had the courage of his convictions and moved efficiently and effectively on the issue of gun safety. And you contrast that and the lack of leadership, the cowards that continue to dominate the national debate when it comes to gun safety policy."

The move to ban handguns in Canada, however, isn't a uniformly popular one, as some have questioned its effectiveness.

In 2019, for example, Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer said that Canada already had extremely strong firearms regulation in place and that no further action was required. He said that the vast majority of gun crimes, especially those with handguns, are committed using illegal guns and that it makes no sense to ban an already prohibited weapon.

"In every single case there are already offences for that. They're already breaking the law and the criminal law in Canada addresses all of those circumstances," said Palmer. "The firearms laws in Canada are actually very good right now. They're very strict."

He continued: "There will always be an influx of guns from the United States into Canada. Heroin is illegal in Canada, too, but we have heroin in Canada.