Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged a ban on “military-grade” semiautomatic rifles in an attempt to redirect his campaign after his blackface controversy.

City News reports that Trudeau announced the rifle ban on Friday in Greektown, Toronto, the area of the city in which a gunman shot 15 people, killing two, last year.

Trudeau said, “We know you do not need a military-grade assault weapon – one designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time – to take down a deer.”

His ban includes a two-year amnesty for current owners of the rifles. He also wants a buyback so the government can pay owners when they hand their rifles over.

CBC quoted Trudeau saying, “People are dying. Families are grieving. Communities are suffering. So we’re going to do more and we’re going to do better. Thoughts and prayers are just not going to cut it. The choice could not be clearer: Liberals are for tougher gun laws, Conservatives are for weaker gun laws.”

A rifle ban would not have prevented the Greektown attack, as the attacker used a handgun.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.