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