Canada, Guns and Crime
When I wrote my “Wait a Minute!” post yesterday I expected all my readers to say, “Amen, gun control is trash.” That's not what happened. Bugblaster raised the objection that he doesn't want a handgun and he believes that strict gun laws make firearms harder to acquire. He also challenged me to compare Canada's gun crime rates with those of the good ol' U. S. of A.
I did a little bit of research and here is what I found:
The first thing I learned is that Canada's murder rate went up 12% and abductions are up almost 13% in 2004 (I can't find numbers for 2005. They probably aren't available yet.). To be fair, the data shows that aggregate crime has fallen 1%, driven by a large decline in reported crimes in Ontario. Canada had a reported violent crime rate of 963 per 100,000 and the U.S. had a rate of 475 per 100,000 in 2003. With all due respect Mr. Bugblaster, maybe another comparison would support your position better.
Canada of course blamed the problem on the United States and our looser gun control laws. Apparently, the logic goes that since guns are harder to get in Canada, criminals come to the United States to acquire weapons and then return to commit crime. This may or may not be true. According to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report quoted in a National Review article the RCMP said that they “cannot know if [the guns] were traceable or where they might have been traced.”
This is an interesting accusation. To explore whether or not this has any basis I thought it would be interesting to look at England, an island nation that is located thousands of miles away from the U.S. and its loose* gun control laws.
When looking at England it is important to remember that they have a total ban of handguns and near total ban on other firearms. These restrictions are like a government guarantee offered to criminals assuring them that their victims will be unarmed. As I understand it, Canada merely has strict controls as opposed to a total ban.
According to an analysis of crime statistics, serious violent crime is up 69%, robbery is up 45% and murder is up 54% since 1996. As of the year 2000 (since which crime has continued to rise) violent crime in England and Wales was twice the rate of the United States. National Review Online reports, “The British government banned handguns in 1997 but recently reported that gun crime in England and Wales nearly doubled in the four years from 1998-99 to 2002-03.”
Another island country that is even further from America's corrupting influence, Australia, had a similar experience. After the Port Arther gun-control measures were passed in 1996 violent crime rates averaged 32% higher in the six years after the law was passed than they did in 1995.
Is it possible that Canada's gun control is part of the problem? I think it is. If Canadians are successful in implementing a total ban I expect that their serious violent crime rates will go up similarly.
During this time (the '90s) many of the States were passing concealed carry legislation. 38 states have enacted “shall issue” legislation requiring state governments to issue permits to all qualified applicants, 8 states have “may issue” legislation which allows permits to be issued and 2 states allow adults to carry without a permit of any kind. States with “shall issue” legislation show crime dropping even faster than the nation average.
Another under-appreciated fact: this one cited in John Lott's excellent book More Guns, Less Crime, 70% of American murders take place in 3.5% of our counties. Does it surprise you that these counties are largely ones where guns have been banned (New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago etc.)?
Finally, I want to acknowledge my sources. I found links to most of these statistics in a National Review Online Article, "Canada Blames Us" and the Canadian National Firearms Associaton website.
This is a subject I feel very passionate about (along with taxes and abortion it is one of my “Big Three” issues) and I welcome questions, comments and differing opinions from my readers.
*I use as it applies to the relative difference in U.S. vs. Canada, U.K. etc. laws. I believe gun laws are already far to restrictive in the U.S..
Quote of the Day:
"If anyone tries to kill you, you try and kill them right back! You hear me?" - Malcolm Reynolds
11 Comments:
some really interesting research, rabenstranger. it just seems so simple and makes perfect sense to me. so it's hard for me to be objectional about it, i reckon.
so let's open up the other can of worms. hehe...from a guys view...what's your thoughts on abortion?
Hahahahaha...
You should see his essay :)
I've decided that I'm only in favor of post-birth abortion, and I am very much in favor of it. But that's a whole essay in itself. And yes, Rabenstrange wrote an essay based of that premise of mine a while back; you sould ask him to post it.
I'm undecided on whether I'm in favor of handguns as I prefer rifles. I think that the second amendment refers primarily to the citizens as a militia group which can stand against the govenment to keep it in line. As handguns are not generally considered military weapons (although they do have their place in the military) I'd be more adamant in supporting your right to own/use automatic rifles and rocket launchers than I would a handgun. But I'm not opposed to people owning handguns, I'm just opposed to the police thinking they have a right to know you own a handgun. Actually the police have no clue about any of the firearms in my house and that's the way it should be.
Well well, I will do some research as well, and then I will either pay obeisance or refute you with all guns blazing. Ooops, that's not what exactly I meant.
see ya!
Impressive! That is cool that you took the time to do all that research.
Amen, gun control is trash
I'm curious if the research you did with regard to Canada's crime rates looked specifically at gun-related crime?
Want to hear something ironic? Here in Canada, young Sikh boys are allowed to wear their ceremonial daggers to school.
When I think of guns, I always ask myself one question: what is the purpose of owning a gun, especially a hand gun? A hand gun will not help me rid myself of the racoon who visits my deck. So why would I want one? The real problem, as with all crime, is the sinful hearts of men. While I don't think gun laws will stop people from committing crimes, I do feel better knowing that not every Tom, Dick, or Harry has access to serious artillery.
Actually I'd rather use a low caliber pistol to take out a racoon. A 22L rifle will usually leave an exit wound and when shooting a racoon in the head from close range.
Daggers?? wow!
Hi Rabenstranger, I won't have to research too deeply. Your two sources (Statistics Canada and the FBI) give the homicide rates for the two countries.
U.S.A.: 5.7 per 100,000
Canada: 1.9 per 100,000
Q.E.D.
I'm not saying gun control is the sole reason for Canada's much better homicide rate, but I think it contributes.
Perhaps the gun ban is the consequence of the high crime rates in NYC, Chicago and DC, as opposed to the cause. I would be astonished if removing the ban actually lowered the homicide rates in those cities, and I doubt that those cities have the budget to double the wages of their police officers for danger pay if the ban is dropped.
Thank you for the stats...
Virtualmindshare thinks that in addition to your stats , disarming and de-educating (dumbing-down)citizens makes it easier for unquestioned control by the government. (a little black helicopter thinking)
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