PUBLICATION:             WINNIPEG FREE PRESS 

DATE :                        SAT JUL.26,2003 

PAGE :                        A14 

CLASS :                      Focus 

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Editorial - Outgrowing crime

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Fewer Canadians, according to information released by Statistics Canada this week, are using guns to commit their crimes. This is, of course, good news, but it is not nearly as good as the news that Canadians, gun-toting or otherwise-armed, are committing fewer crimes than they used to commit.

The Liberal government and a succession of justice ministers, from Allan Rock through Anne McLellan to Martin Cauchon -- who finally managed to transfer the federal gun registry to the solicitor general's department -- would like us to think that this statistic reflects the efficacy of the gun registry. That would require us to believe that, faced with the prospect of having to register their guns, criminals have instead given them up, and are now robbing banks, convenience stores and gas stations with weapons that the law does not require to be registered, such as knives, power tools and empty wine bottles.

The statistics actually point in a different direction. Between 1992 and 2002, the period covered by the report, the number of robberies committed with a firearm did drop dramatically, from 8,736 to 3,472. Criminals and other Canadians did not actually have to register their guns until June of this year. The decline in gun-related crime seems more likely connected to the 1995 Firearms Act that increased the mandatory sentence for a crime involving a gun from one year to four. This seems to have persuaded some criminals to leave their guns at home and might persuade more to do so if the provisions of the act were not often plea-bargained away.

The decline in gun-related crime is more obviously connected to the decline in crime in general -- during the same period, the general crime rate went down by 27 per cent. One hesitates to point fingers, but most crimes are committed by young people and by 1992 there were not many young baby boomers left. That huge bulge in the population unquestionably contributed to the huge and coincidental bulge in the crime rate. Old baby boomers are less likely to commit crimes than young ones.

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VIOLENT CRIMES INVOLVING FIREARMS = 1.4%

Documented as of: September 7, 2000

Updated: June 3, 2002

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/violentcrimesfirearms.htm

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/CPA01.htm

 

 

PERCENTAGE OF ROBBERIES COMMITTED WITH LONG GUNS = 1%

Documented as of: February 26, 2003

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/robberybytypeofweaponpresent2001.xls

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/RobberybyTypeofWeapon2000.pdf

 

 

% OF ROBBERIES WHERE VICTIMS ARE INJURED WITH LONG GUNS = 0%

Documented as of: February 26, 2003

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/victimsofrobberysbyweaponsused2001.xls

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/robberies.pdf

 

 

NUMBER OF HOMICIDES INVOLVING FIREARMS IN 2001 = 171

Documented as of: September 25, 2002

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl71.htm

 

 

HOMICIDES INVOLVING FIREARMS, 1974-2001

Documented as of: September 25, 2002

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/HomicidesInvolvingFirearms1974-2001.pdf

 

 

FIREARMS USED FOR SELF-DEFENCE = 60,000–80,000 TIMES/YEAR

Documented as of: 1996

http://www.sfu.ca/~mauser/papers/selfdefense/CSD-JCJ-JFP-8-3-99.pdf

 

 

ANNUAL INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF SUICIDES – 1991-1999 = 480

Documented as of: January 20, 2003

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/suicidesincanada.htm

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article53.htm