NEWS RELEASE

October 16, 2003                                                                                          For Immediate Release

STATS CAN HOMICIDE REPORT SHOWS RIGHT AND WRONG TARGET FOR SAVING LIVES

“The number of people murdered went up so their billion-dollar gun registry didn’t save any lives.”

Yorkton – Statistics Canada’s recent report on homicides committed in 2002 proves conclusively that registering guns is a complete failure as a way of reducing both the number of murders and the number of murders committed with firearms.  “In 2002, the number of murders increased to 582 - 29 more than last year - so the gun registry sure didn’t save any lives,” commented Breitkreuz, the Official Opposition’s critic for firearms and property rights.  “And, despite seven decades of mandatory handgun registration, the use of handguns in firearm homicides has been steadily increasing from 27% in 1974 to 66% in 2002.  Conversely, firearm homicides with rifles and shotguns that weren't registered until very recently dropped steadily - from 63% to 25% over the same 28-year period,” reported Breitkreuz.

The Statistics Canada report also revealed that three out of four recovered handguns were not registered.  “If they can’t make handgun registration work after 70 years of trying, why are they wasting a billion tax dollars in a futile attempt to register millions of long guns?” asked the Saskatchewan MP.

This new homicide data also supports what Police Chief Julian Fantino learned the hard way on the streets of Toronto.  In January of this year he said, “I'm very devastated by the amount of gun-related violence that we're experiencing here in the city of Toronto; a tremendous increase over years gone by.  The difficulty of course is that we haven't yet come across any situation where the gun registry would have enabled us to either prevent or solve any of these crimes.”

“The government report also identified the real target for saving lives, and it isn’t registering guns owned by law-abiding gun owners,” said Breitkreuz.  “Two thirds of those accused of murder had a criminal record, and 73% of those had a previous conviction for a violent offence including 8 who had been previously convicted for murder,” exclaimed Breitkreuz.  “It’s pretty clear that the government would save more lives by tracking known violent criminals, than tracking two million completely innocent, government-licensed firearms owners.  The government’s main argument for registering firearms has always been to keep guns out of the hands of criminals so this statistic alone refutes the truth of that claim.  Just think how many lives could have been saved if we had spent this billion dollars targeting the real causes of violence in our society or simply by targeting the criminals,” speculated Breitkreuz.

“Unfortunately, earlier this year the Solicitor General admitted that tracking criminals or the 131,000 persons prohibited from owning firearms wasn’t the objective of the federal firearms program.  As a consequence of the Liberal’s loopy logic, the Privacy Act protects the privacy of violent criminals but not the privacy of millions of responsible firearms owners.  For example, licensed gun owners have to report their change of address within 30 days or face up to two years in jail – convicted criminals are free to roam the country.  Just one more reason why the gun registry has to be scrapped,” concluded Breitkreuz. 

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM STATISTICS CANADA

HOMICIDE IN CANADA, 2002 REPORT

Released: October 1, 2003

ANNUAL NUMBER OF MURDERS INCREASED TO 582

Page 1 – “In 2002, Canadian police services reported 582 homicides, 29 more than the previous year.  After having stabilized over a two-year period, the national homicide rate climbed 4% in 2002, to 1.85 per 100,000 population.  Previously, the rate had been gradually declining since the mid-1970s.”

63% OF MURDER VICTIMS WERE STABBED, BEATEN OR STRANGLED – 26% WERE SHOT

Page 6 – “Figure 3: Homicide Causes of Death, Canada, 2002 – Stabbing 31.3%, Shooting 25.6%, Beating 21.3%, Strangulation 11%.”

66% OF FIREARM HOMICIDES COMMITTED WITH A HANDGUN

Page 7 – “Among the 149 homicides committed with a firearm in 2002, handguns were the most commonly used weapon; 98(66%) homicides were committed with a handgun 37(25%) with a rifle or shotgun, 6(4%) with a sawed off rifle or shotgun, 3(2%) with a fully automatic firearm and 5(3%) with other types of firearms (Table 8).”

72% OF HANDGUNS USED AS MURDER WEAPONS WERE NOT REGISTERED

Page 7 – “Between 1997 and 2003, 574 homicides were committed with handguns.  Among the 31% (176) of homicides in which a handgun was recovered, about three quarters (72%) of the handguns were not registered.  About four in five (85%) did not possess a valid FAC of Firearms License.  Where ownership of the handgun could be determined by police, the accused owned the handgun in half (49%) of these homicides, compared to 3% in which it was owned by the victim.”

62% OF ACCUSED MURDERERS HAD A CRIMINAL RECORD

Page 10 – “In 2002, almost two thirds (62%) of persons aged 12 or older accused of homicide had a Canadian criminal record.  Among those with a prior criminal history, three quarters (73%) had been previously convicted of a violent offence: 8 for homicide, 44 for robbery and 183 for other violent offences.”

50% OF MURDER VICTIMS HAD A CRIMINAL RECORD

Page 10 – “Similarly, half (50%) of the victims 12 years and over in 2002 had a Canadian criminal record.  Forty-seven percent of this group had been previously convicted of a violent crime: 6 for homicide, 23 for robbery and 97 for other violent offences.”

ABORIGINALS COMPRISE 3% OF POPULATION BUT 21% OF ACCUSED MURDERERS

Page 10 – “In accordance with internal guidelines, various police services (such as the RCMP) no longer collect information on the Aboriginal status of accused or victims.  In 2002, such information was only available 41% of the victims and 38% of those accused.  Nonetheless, on the basis of information from police services that do report this information, Aboriginals, who make up 3% of the Canadian population, accounted for 21% of those accused of homicide and 14% of homicide victims in 2002 (these proportions exclude data from police services not providing such information).

68% OF ACCUSED MURDERS ON ALCOHOL OR DRUGS AT TIME OF THE MURDER

Page 10 – “In 2002, police reported that more than half (52%) of all homicide victims and two thirds (68%) of those accused had consumed alcohol and/or drugs at the time of the offence, similar to the pattern observed since 1991, when this information was first collected.”

13% OF ACCUSED MURDERS MENTALLY ILL

Page 11 – “Excluding those cases in which mental status was unknown, police suspected the presence of a mental or developmental disorder among 13% of accused persons since 2002, similar to the percentage reported each years since 1997.”

HOMICIDES INVOLVING FIREARMS, 1974-2002

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/HomicidesinvolvingFirearms,1974-2002.pdf