Long Guns and Family Violence Report

Library of Parliament
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A9
19 June 2006

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. 
Room 685 
Confederation Building 
House of Commons 
Ottawa

Dear Mr. Breitkreuz:

In response to your request of 14 June 2006 concerning statistics on spousal homicides by type of weapon since 1995, I am pleased to provide you with two tables prepared by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

These tables depict the homicides committed by male and female spouses for the period 1995 through 2004, broken down into fourteen categories, including Fully Automatic Firearm; Sawed-Off Rifle/Shotgun; Handgun;and Rifle-Shotgun. The data show that 9.5% of all spousal homicides in 2004 were due to the use of a long gun (rifle or a shotgun), while a further 12.2% were due to the use of a handgun or a sawed-off rifle/shotgun. Over a ten year period, 17.1% of all spousal homicides involved rifles and shotguns (long guns), while the proportion of spousal homicides involving all firearms was 27.4%.

With regard to your request concerning statistics presented during the 8th meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, specifically the statement that 71% of the firearms assaults perpetrated against women involve long guns (rifle and shotgun), compared to 29% of the assaults perpetrated against men, I have not been able to find the source of these statistics. However, according to the Statistics Canada’s Incidence-based Uniform Crime Report survey (UCR2) for 2004, 15.7% of firearm assaults (aggravated assaults and assaults causing bodily harm) against women involved rifles or shotguns, while the percentage of assaults perpetrated against men was 7.7%.

Should you require further information on this or any other subject, please do not hesitate to contact the Parliamentary Information and Research Service.

Yours sincerely, 

Lyne Casavant 
Law and Government Division 
Parliamentary Information 
and Research Service

Table: Homicides committed by male and female spouses for the period 1995 through 2004. (PDF, 92K)