Some Facts On Handguns

July 25, 2007 Missing the target on gun crime By Lorrie Goldstein Last week, Statistics Canada reported the national crime rate last year dipped to its lowest level in more than a quarter century. Apparently, no one told the gun-toting thugs who murdered an 11-year-old boy in Toronto last weekend along with three other people, fatally shot a 37-year-old man in broad daylight on a Halifax residential street and wounded four others inside a Winnipeg nightclub. By the way, that drop in the crime rate? Actually, as StatsCan noted, that was "driven by a decline in non-violent crime." Meanwhile, violent crime, remained "virtually unchanged" from 2005. While the murder rate dipped 10% after two years of increases, "increases were reported in many serious violent crimes such as attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, robbery and kidnapping/forcible confinement." In Toronto, in addition to four people shot to death over 24 hours last weekend, seven more were wounded (five shot, two stabbed), provoking cries from the city's left-wing mayor and the province's Liberal attorney-general for a federal handgun ban. A-G Michael Bryant accused the federal Conservatives of being in the "holster" of the gun lobby. Right. For those who think "banning" handguns -- which are already banned except for target shooters and collectors -- will stop gun crime, some observations from Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, perhaps Canada's most informed critic on these issues. As he noted in a recent parliamentary debate, of the 5,194 homicides in Canada between 1997 and 2005, 118, or 2.27% were committed with a registered gun, 63, or 1.21%, were committed with a gun registered to the accused murderer and 111, or 2.14%, were committed by a person who held a valid firearms licence. Of Canada's two million licensed gun owners, 111, or 0.00555%, used their firearm to murder someone. Since most criminals don't register their guns, why would they obey a "ban?" On the other hand, in 2005, 64% of accused murderers had a prior criminal record, including 6% for homicide. Gee, do you think the real problem here might be the criminals and an absurdly lax justice system? Just a thought.