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GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2005.10.27 PAGE: A6 BYLINE: CAMPBELL CLARK SECTION: National News EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Ottawa ONT WORD COUNT: 551 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't blame
U.S. for gun crime, Canada told -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prime Minister Paul Martin incorrectly blamed the United States for gun crime in Canada by using an unsubstantiated figure to assert that 50 per cent of this country's gun crimes involve smuggled firearms, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins said yesterday. Mr. Wilkins said that Canadian officials admitted in meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week "that that figure was just grabbed out of thin air." He insisted the Canadian government should focus on joint efforts to combat gun-running rather than pointing fingers. The figure, which others have used previously, is not based on any statistical study that could be traced by The Globe and Mail, and police forces and other authorities said yesterday it is not verifiable. "I know that figure of 50 per cent has been bandied about, but no one can substantiate that figure," said Staff Sergeant Paul Marsh, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The U.S. ambassador said in an interview that Canada is unfairly blaming the United States for half its gun crime. "I think they're incorrect," Mr. Wilkins said in an interview. "I just think it's easy when things go wrong to blame us, and I think that that's being done unfairly, quite frankly. I think we ought to emphasize that we're working together to solve the problem. "I think the figure that's been bandied about of 50 per cent has not been substantiated." Mr. Wilkins told CTV's Canada AM that the Canadians admitted the figure has no basis. Mr. Wilkins declined to tell The Globe whether the Prime Minister conceded the figure was not substantiated. He listed U.S. efforts to stop gun smuggling to Canada, including joint Canada-U.S. police teams, more than 40 joint investigations, access to U.S. electronic gun-tracing systems, and training for Canadian forces. A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Melanie Gruer, said that Mr. Martin had difficulty recalling the source of the figure in the meetings, but did not say it was unsubstantiated. In a press conference on Monday, Mr. Martin said that the United States had to shoulder responsibility for gun smuggling into Canada. "But when we hear, for example, the police association, the chiefs of police, say that as many as 50 per cent of crimes committed using guns, they are guns that come from the United States, largely illegally, it's clear we have to work together," Mr. Martin said. Many police experts say a substantial number of guns from the United States are used in crimes, but many cannot be traced. Weapons are often stolen or smuggled, but the RCMP, Justice Canada, and Statistics Canada's Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics said they have no figures for their origins. Spokesmen for the Canadian Professional Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said the statistic did not come from them. Ms. Gruer said yesterday that the source was Toronto Police Chief William Blair and Toronto Mayor David Miller. A spokesman for Mr. Miller said that the information came from the Toronto Police Service, and Chief Blair. "It was said by the chief, but to be frank with you, we're not sure it's a Toronto statistic," said Staff Inspector Bruce Crawford, who oversees the force's gangs and guns task force. Aside from the differences of opinion over what constitutes a "crime gun," serial numbers are usually rubbed out on guns seized, making them untraceable, he said. He said from the handguns they have traced, the 50 figure seems believable for Toronto, but he has no idea whether that would apply to areas where rifles and shotguns are more frequently used. Staff Insp. Crawford said most of the guns smuggled from the United States come in cars a few at a time over land borders. Most are smuggled by Canadians, perhaps with U.S. accomplices, he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
SO WHERE DID THIS STATISTIC COME FROM? OCTOBER 25, 2005 – NATIONAL POST, PAGE A1: A Toronto police spokesman could not confirm the statistics the Prime Minister quoted about the number of illegal guns smuggled into Canada, but said anecdotal evidence suggests firearms are either stolen in domestic, residential break-ins or smuggled across the border. SEPTEMBER 25, 2005 - TORONTO STAR, PAGE A1: "There is an estimate by the police that up to 50 per cent of the gun crimes in Canada are done by people with guns obtained in large part illegally from the United States," Martin told an Ottawa news conference yesterday as he outlined his government's still-developing plans to get tough on firearms crime. SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 - VANCOUVER SUN, PAGE A2: "Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says half the weapons used by criminals are smuggled from the U.S." AUGUST 10, 2005 - TORONTO STAR, PAGE B2: "Mayor David Miller and police Chief Bill Blair said this week that more has to be done to prevent the flow of guns across the border since 50 per cent of the firearms used in crime here come from the United States." JANUARY 3,
2003 - TORONTO POLICE CHIEF JULIAN FANTINO: "We have
an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto,
and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped
us solve any of them," said Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino.
"None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although
we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from
the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy
and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively
used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public
safety initiatives." |