Canada must criminalize all gun possession

Among developed nations, Canada has one of the highest levels of gun violence. The most telling comparison is with Japan, which has an absolute ban on handguns. Japan reports an average of 0.027 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people per year. Canada, by the same measure, has an average of 2.31. This is nearly 86 times that of Japan. The United States, predictably, has an average 10.67 firearm-related deaths per 100,000, almost 400 times the Japanese statistic. What happened recently in Toronto-Danforth, Fredericton, and Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighbourhood is symptomatic of a broader problem: gun violence is on the rise in our country. When Canadians live through a period of increased gun violence, the common reaction is “thoughts and prayers.” But our thoughts and prayers aren’t enough; we need to do more. Regardless of public reaction, we should not lose track of the ultimate objective: we must eradicate gun violence. We need to address the primary cause of gun violence: the availability of guns. We must federally criminalize possession of any firearm in Canada. This is not an overreaction, but a practical and justified policy recommendation. There are some clear exceptions: law enforcement and licensed security guards, licensed hunters and sport shooters in demarcated areas, and gun clubs. But barring these exceptions, there is no justifiable reason for an individual to be carrying a firearm, especially given the current state of gun violence in Canada; firearm-related violence has been rising in the past few years. Homicides by shootings have gone from below 0.4 per 100,000 in 2013 to more than 0.6 in 2016 and it is going up, especially in urban areas. In Toronto, there already have been 50 per cent more shootings in 2018 than there were in the whole of 2014. Some suggest that banning firearms will not reduce overall levels of violence. This is not true. Canada, when compared to Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, has the second-highest rate of intentional homicide; the U.S. has the highest and Japan has the lowest. These statistics on gun violence have been tackled in the past through legislation. First, there was the long-gun registry system, which the Conservative Party set out in its 2006 platform to abolish. More recently, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale proposed Bill C-71 this year, which extends background checks and requires vendors to record details of sales. Toronto Mayor John Tory has proposed a complete ban on handguns. These proposals are constructive, but let’s be bold and go further. The issues surrounding gun violence are further compounded by the problem of the illicit arms trade from the United States. In 2016, police forces and other authorities seized 25,123 firearms, out of which nearly 20,000 were non-restricted. These are weapons that do not need to be registered federally. A law-enforcement officer cannot just confiscate these; there is no assumption of guilt. With a complete criminalization on possession, there would be. Also, criminalizing possession provides further sanctions against trafficking arms. Background checks and registries do not address this problem and only burden the RCMP. Another primary reason that an absolute ban on possession has not been considered seriously is fear of political backlash from the electorate. However, according to Ekos Research Associates’ recent poll, 69 per cent of Canadians believe that there should be a “strict ban” on guns in urban areas. Those who support banning guns do not belong to one side of the political spectrum. Eighty-six per cent of Liberal respondents, 56 per cent of Conservative respondents, and 75 per cent of NDP respondents supported the urban ban. Hence, there is a strong case for criminalization. To effectively criminalize the possession of all firearms, we recommend: Criminalizing possession of all guns, with exceptions for police, hunters, and gun clubs. A special fund should be set up by the government to buy back weapons. Australia set aside $500-million to buy back weapons from their owners. Eight months into the program, 500,000 weapons had been surrendered. This would justifiably incentivize and compensate gun owners to surrender their firearms. Australia successfully reduced gun violence after the buy-back scheme. Ratification of the United Nations Firearms Protocol. Canada has signed but not ratified the UN Firearms Protocol, which seeks to control illicit arms trading. Out of the 125 countries that have signed on to the protocol, only 10 have not ratified it. The Toronto-Danforth shooter used a gun smuggled in from the U.S. This is indicative of a broader problem of illicit gun-flow from the U.S., a country that is not a party to the UN protocol. It would be unrealistic to expect the U.S. to prioritize illicit gun trafficking, but a public stance against illegal gun trafficking in Canada would surely be a deterrent. There has already been opposition from the small but vocal gun lobby, claiming that any form of increased gun control is an “unnecessary response” to gun violence and that banning guns is “civil disarmament.” Criminalization of possession is civil disarmament, but amidst growing public concern, increasing casualties, and rampant trafficking, it is our moral imperative to push for criminalizing possession. Anything less would be a compromise on lives, and that is unjustifiable. Vahan Kololian is the chairman and co-founder of the Mosaic Institute. It’s a national “think and do tank” based in Toronto, committed to reducing social divisions and preventing conflict. This piece was written with the help of Siddhartha Sengupta, Akshay Sharma, and Wendy Sung-Aad. A long-form report on this subject is available at https://mosaicinstitute.ca/gunpolicypaper/. The Hill Times

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Canada must criminalize all gun possession

To get rid of gun violence, we need to address its primary cause: the availability of guns.

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