How American gun deaths and gun laws compare to Canada's

'Yet another mass shooting in the U.S. that left 16 people dead in San Bernardino has thrown the spotlight for the second time in one week on the ongoing American tragedy of gun violence.

And a review of 2015’s year-to-date total for firearms-related deaths in the U.S. shows that as of Dec. 3, the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) has already recorded 12,236 deaths and a further 24,755 injuries from shootings. This casualty toll includes 640 children aged 0-11 killed or injured by guns.

Not all these deaths were straight-up homicides. The GVA recorded 1,749 accidental shootings, 1,131 cases of ‘defensive use’, 4,028 incidents involving police, and 2,081 home invasions.

309 deaths were a result of mass shootings.

Canadian comparison

According to a StatsCan report from 2012 – the most recent year available – the U.S. suffered a total of 8,813 murders involving the use of firearms that year. Canada, in the same year, recorded just 172 firearms-related homicides.

“When looking at firearm-related homicide rates in comparable countries, Canada’s rate is about seven times lower than that of the United States (3.5 per 100,000 population), although it is higher than several other peer countries. While Canada’s firearm-related homicide rate is similar to those in Ireland and Switzerland, it is significantly higher than the rates in Japan (0.01 per 100,000 population) and the United Kingdom (0.06 per 100,000 population),” states StatsCan’s findings, which do not include Quebec figures.

Presently, Canadian law classifies firearms into three categories: prohibited, restricted, and non-restricted. Prohibited firearms include military-grade assault weapons such as the AR-15 rifles used by the San Bernardino shooters, and sawed-off rifles or shotguns. Handguns are generally classified as restricted weapons, while rifles and shotguns are usually non-restricted.

Anyone wishing to buy a gun in Canada and/or ammunition must have a valid license under the Firearms Act. To obtain a firearms license, all applicants must undergo a screening process, which includes a safety course, criminal history and background checks, provision of personal references, and a mandatory waiting period.

But Canada’s relatively tight firearms laws were loosened when then PM-Stephen Harper scrapped the federal Long Gun Registry. While in existence from 1993 – 2012, the registry was a centralized RCMP database that linked all guns with their respective owners.

The Conservatives scrapped the database as they saw it as ineffective at reducing crime, targeting law-abiding gun owners instead of criminals, who typically don't register their weapons. However, Canadian police and victims groups fought hard to keep it, partly because it helped authorities evaluate potential safety threats when police officers attended potential criminal incidents.

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http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/12/04/news/how-american-gun-deaths-and-gun-laws-compare-canadas