Good news: StatsCanada is finally going to collect data on the number of stolen and smuggled guns are used in homicides in the country..Bad news: It’s going to take a long time to do it..“It may take a few years for these changes to be fully implemented,” StatsCan wrote in a report to the Commons public safety committee, adding: “The extent to which organized crime is involved in firearm related violence is currently unclear.”.Blacklock’s Reporter says the agency submits yearly Homicide Survey questionnaires to police departments across the country. StatsCan beginning in 2019 added questions including the barrel length of weapons used in gun crimes and whether the firearm was previously reported stolen. Information collected to date was so incomplete it was unreliable, wrote staff..Most suspects arrested in fatal shootings did have criminal records said the report. About 39% of fatal shootings were gangland slayings, it said..“There is currently little information publicly available which indicates origin of firearms used in crime to determine whether a firearm used in a crime was stolen, illegally purchased or smuggled into the country,” said the report..“There is currently no complete information on the origin of every firearm used in a criminal incident.”.StatsCan in 2021 further expanded its police questionnaires for more data..“It may take a few years for these changes to be fully implemented by police services,” said the report..“It is important to recognize there are limitations in our data collection about firearms used in crime. There is little information currently collected about the characteristics of these firearms such as details about the exact type of gun, who owned it, how it was stored or whether the owner was licenced.”.Police reported 277 fatal shootings nationwide in 2020, the most recent available data. StatsCan noted the figure included the murders of 22 people in Nova Scotia that year, the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history..“Firearm-related violent crime typically represents less than three percent of police reported violent crime in Canada,” wrote analysts..“Nevertheless it has a significant emotional and physical impact on victims, families and communities.”.The StatsCan report follows a Department of Public Safety briefing note that acknowledged regulators had no idea how many firearms are smuggled into Canada..A total 692 firearms were seized by Customs agents at border crossings over a five-month period, “mostly from non-compliant travelers attempting to retain their personal firearms,” said the briefing note.
