After falling for several years, rates of violent gun-related crime are rising in Canada, most of which involve guns, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
Published on Friday, the report compares cases of violent gun-related crimes in two periods from 2009 to 2014 and 2015 to 2020.
The report shows that the rate of violent gun-related crimes in 2009 was 29 per 100,000 people. This figure dropped to 19 in 2013, as violent crime also fell overall, before returning to 29 in 2020.
In 2020, police reported 8,344 victims of a gun crime, accounting for 2.8% of all violent crime victims in Canada that year.
Pistols remain the most serious weapon used in most violent gun-related crimes in Canada at 59%.
This was the case for the two periods analyzed by StatCan, which the federal agency said means guns do not contribute disproportionately to the overall growth of gun-related crimes.
What has changed, however, is the type of violent gun-related crimes that police are reporting, that is, intentionally firing a firearm, aiming a firearm, and using a firearm in a crime. accused, the report says.
The number of victims of these crimes increased from 8% of all violent crimes related to firearms in 2009 to 21% in 2019 and 22% in 2020.
The report comes after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week, which killed 19 children and two teachers. The federal government also plans to introduce new firearms legislation on Monday.
It remains to be seen exactly what will be in the bill, but a number of arms control measures promised by the Liberals are still pending, including the federal government’s program to buy banned firearms.
DIVES IN DATA
Despite the figures, StatCan points out that there are gaps in its reports.
“It is important to recognize that there are limitations in our knowledge about the firearms used in crime,” the report says.
One such gap is the limited information gathered about the details of specific firearms, such as their exact type, who had them, how they were stored, or whether the owner has a license, the agency says.
There is also no consistent definition of a shooting between Canadian police services, nor are there consistent criteria for determining whether a shooting actually occurred.
In addition, there are gaps in the nature of gun-related violence in Canada, including the extent to which organized crime is involved and whether there is any pattern in ethnicity, Indigenous identity, except in the case of of homicide data, and the socioeconomic factors involved. .
Provinces also do not require investigators to send weapons used in crime for tracing, although even this process has variable success rates, StatCan says.
“Of particular concern, there is currently little information available to determine the source of the firearms used in the crime: for example, whether a weapon used in a crime was stolen, bought illegally or smuggled into the country.” , says the report.
“This information is sometimes not recorded by the police services, recorded inconsistently or, in some cases, the information is simply not available.”
GUN
The majority of violent gun-related crimes in 2020 were burglary, at 29%, or serious assault, at 23%.
Pistols were most commonly used in urban areas, where they accounted for 63% of violent gun-related crimes in 2020.
Meanwhile, rifles and shotguns are most commonly used in rural areas, including 46% in rural South and 39% in rural North.
In 2020, guns accounted for 75% of all gun-related thefts. Guns were also implicated in 60% of homicides, other rapes that resulted in death and attempted homicide with a firearm, as well as 54% of gun-related sexual offenses.
Firearms-like weapons, such as a pellet gun or a flare gun, accounted for 23% of all gun-related violent crimes in Canada in 2020.
Police reported 743 homicides in Canada in 2020 at a rate of 1.95 per 100,000 people.
Of these, 277 cases involved a firearm with a rate of 0.73 homicides per 100,000 people.
The proportion of homicides with a firearm rose from 26% in 2013 to 37% in 2020.
Gang activity was confirmed or suspected in 39% of all gun-related homicides by 2020. In general, gang-related homicides involving a firearm were down from 20% of all homicides. in 2019 at 14% in 2020.
CITIES WITH THE HIGHEST RATES
The cities with the highest proportions of violent crimes where there was a gun in 2020 were Regina, Brantford, Ontario, Toronto, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Windsor, Ontario.
Although Toronto reported a relatively low rate of violent gun-related crime, StatCan says it still accounted for a relatively high proportion of all violent crime.
The way the police report the information of the victims will also affect the results. StatCan says the Toronto Police Service, for example, made improvements to its information system, partly explaining the increase in the city in 2015.
Violent gun-related crime rates in 2020 were higher in rural areas than in urban centers in most provinces, which StatCan said could be due to higher gun ownership rates. fire in rural communities, where it may be required for hunting or farming.
The 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, which killed 22 people, also had an effect on the homicide rate in the province and nationwide.
VICTIMS AND PERPETRATES
Men accounted for two-thirds of all victims of violent gun-related crimes in 2020.
Most men victims of violent gun-related crimes do not know the perpetrator, 55%, compared to 41% of women victims.
This is largely the case in urban areas, with victims from rural communities most likely to report knowing the perpetrator.
Among women victims of violent gun-related crimes, a current or former spouse, or other intimate partner was responsible for one in four cases, compared to 2.2% of cases involving male victims. .
Most gun-related violent crimes involving a victim are solved, with at least one defendant identified. This is more likely to be the case in rural north and south, with 83 and 72 percent, respectively, compared to 54 percent in urban areas.
In 2020, 5,955 people were charged with gun-related offenses. Of these, 87% were men.
Rates of violent gun-related crime are highest among 18- to 24-year-olds, with 110 defendants per 100,000 people, and those aged 12 to 17, with 75 per 100,000 people.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s online policy producer Rachel Aiello