Liberal leader Paul Martin put forward a highly contentious proposal to ban handguns in Canada this last Thursday that has garnered mixed review from Canadians.
Gun enthusiasts are calling the measure ineffective because only law-abiding citizens will lose their firearms. But supporters of the ban point to a strong correlation between the presence of guns and homicides and murders rates.
Neither the RCMP nor the Toronto Police were willing to comment on the ban directly as it has become a campaign issue. Nor would they comment on what percentage of guns used in crimes were registered or smuggled into Canada illegally from the US.
Speaking to the Edmonton Journal last Friday, however, Edmonton police service acting inspector Brad Doucette said of Martin's proposal, "It's just stupid. I don't see that this would make any difference whatsoever. The legal gun owners aren't the problem. I can't recall the last time a legally registered gun owner committed a crime with it. It's very, very rare."
Opponents of the ban say the only people who will lose their guns are registered law-biding gun owners, while criminals will be left armed in a better position to take advantage of unarmed victims.
"The only thing that those laws do is alienate law abiding citizens and it diverts attention away from the root cause of crime," says Robert Pye, a spokesperson for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
"I can tell you that of the crimes were committed this summer in Toronto, the gun registry, which monitors guns that are legally owned, proved no results for most of those cases…which, based on that, is telling us that that the street violence in Toronto is currently carried out with illegally owned weapons probably brought in illegally to begin with."
Pye's views are echoed by a number of other organizations including the Calgary Police Association. Al Koenig, president of the Calgary Police Association told CanWest the ban is a simple solution to a complex problem.
"Banning any kind of guns will not eliminate them. We've seen it in the past there's no reason to relive it."
However, the annual report on organized crime in Canada from Criminal Intelligence Service Canada does state that guns stolen from legal owners account for a significant portion of guns used in criminal activities.
"In particular, known firearm owners and/or collectors, have been deliberately targeted by criminals to acquire firearms either for themselves, other individual criminals, or for sale to organized crime groups," says the report
The proposed ban has garnered strong support in Ontario, where gun violence has reached an all-time high. Toronto Mayor David Miller and Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant are both strong supporters of the ban.
Martin's announcement may have been a factor behind the Liberals' jump in the polls in Ontario this week. An Ipsos-Reid poll released Tuesday showed that the Liberals had widened their lead over the Conservatives to 19 points in Ontario, with the Liberals standing at 47% support and the Conservatives at 28%.
In addition to his proposal to ban handguns, Martin has put forward a number of other initiatives to curb gun violence in Canada.
Those measures include a $50-million gun violence and gang prevention fund, as well as $225 million to create an RCMP advanced community safety and rapid enforcement team. Martin also promised an extra $10 million a year to increase RCMP graduates and $40 million stem the flow of firearms smuggled from the United States into Canada.
Gun Stats
There is significant statistical evidence to support a ban on handguns and tight control of all other firearms. Numerous studies have found a direct correlation the number of guns in an area and the number of murders and suicides.
United Nations crime trends statistics from 2000 indicate that murders with firearms are more prevalent in places with looser gun controls and higher gun per capita ownership. The study listed the United States as the eight highest country for murders by firearms, Canada at number twenty, Australia at 27 and the United Kingdom at 32.
One study found that the U.S. murder rate without handguns was roughly equivalent to that of Canada, while the murder rate with handguns was 14.5 times greater.
Another study found homicide of a family member was 2.7 times more likely if the home had a firearm than if it did not. The same study found suicide was nearly 5 times more likely in homes with one or more firearms.
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