TORONTO - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says his party wants to strengthen gun control while his Conservative opponents will weaken it, which he is presenting as a clear choice for voters in the federal election.

Trudeau is in Toronto meeting with health-care professionals about his gun control plan, which includes outlawing the semi-automatic AR-15, which was used in many recent U.S. mass shootings, as well a buy-back program for legally purchased assault rifles.

Trudeau met with doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, who are using his campaign stop in Toronto today to offer poignant and forceful testimonials about the impact of rising gun violence.

Many of them backed gun control laws, saying restricting access to firearms is one way to stop the rising flow of bloodied patients to their trauma centres.

Among them was Dr. Najma Ahmed, a trauma surgeon who helped treat victims of a mass shooting in Toronto's Danforth neighbourhood last summer that killed two young people and wounded 13 more.

It's a top of mind issue in a city where according to Toronto police data, 340 shooting incidents have occurred this year alone, 28 of them fatal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2019.