By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, March 20 (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal government on Tuesday unveiled proposals to tighten already tough gun control laws to address a spike in crimes involving firearms, including a murderous attack on a Quebec mosque last year.
The new measures include enhanced background checks on people seeking to buy firearms - especially those with a history of violence - and would oblige retailers to maintain adequate records of their inventories and sales.
Although Canada has much stricter firearms restrictions than the United States, the government says crimes involving guns rose 30 percent from 2013 to 2016. Gun homicides jumped by 66 percent in the same period.
"Increased gun crime has caused too much violence and taken too many communities," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in a statement.
Experts say that although Canada's gun control laws ban dozens of assault rifles, some permitted firearms are easily modified for greater damage, and more lax regulations in the United States make smuggled weapons accessible. people died when a gunman attacked a Quebec City mosque in January 2017. A French-Canadian university student faces murder charges. proposed measures could prompt voter anger against Liberal legislators who represent rural constituencies in Parliament and who will face off against the official opposition Conservatives in an election set for October 2019.
The Conservatives - who have strong support in rural areas - have vowed to resist be any attempts by the Liberals to recreate a federal registry of shotguns and rifles that was set up after a gunman with a rifle murdered 14 women at a Montreal college in 1989.
When they were in government in 2012 the Conservatives abolished the registry, arguing it was wasteful, did nothing to cut crime and unfairly targeted law-abiding farmers and hunters.
Goodale made clear the government would not be recreating the registry.
"We are taking concrete steps to make our country less vulnerable to the scourge of gun violence while being fair to responsible, law-abiding firearms owners and businesses," he said in the statement.
Canadian gun owners must obtain licenses and go through safety training and extensive checks that delve into the potential owner's criminal record, mental health and third-party references.
A restricted class of guns must be registered for tracking, while fully automatic weapons are prohibited.