Bill C-21, which aims to severely limit legal access to firearms, is strongly criticized by gun owners and the pro-gun lobby. Many say the law will have no impact on gun crime. While they are right in some ways, it is important to understand that the gun debate goes beyond the fight against crime.
A firearm facilitates the act of killing. A murderer must have a motive and an opportunity to act. Weapons do not create these conditions, but once the killer is in possession of at least one of them, when he finds himself in the presence of his potential victim, the weapon becomes the easy and quick to commit mischief.
In the United States, 70% of all homicides and crimes committed with a firearm are three times more deadly than those committed with a bladed weapon, and 43 times more than those committed without weapons. More than 30 scientific studies have shown that a high rate of firearm ownership in a region is associated with higher rates of violence and homicides.
In the United States, violence is therefore more deadly, because it involves more firearms. The reality, however, is more complex. Indeed, only a minority of firearm uses will take a human life, with the strong majority of owners being responsible and safety-conscious citizens. Firearms legislation therefore calls for reconciliation between these two facts, namely that more guns cause more deaths, but that very few guns are actually used to kill people.
To understand the situation, one must divide gun violence in the United States and Canada into at least four distinct but interrelated branches. The first is that of firearm suicides. The second is that of urban violence, essentially of criminal origin. The third is domestic violence and the last, but most spectacular, is that of killings.
These four branches share several characteristics. They involve firearms; most attackers are men; suicidal thoughts are often precursors to killings, while some marital partners commit suicide after their act. Many perpetrators of gun violence have a history of domestic violence, either as a victim or as an aggressor.
In addition to these similarities, these aspects differ in other ways. Urban violence particularly affects young men of color living in precarious conditions, while suicides particularly affect older white men.
Killers usually attack strangers, while domestic violence involves people in intimate relationships. Urban violence and suicides take American lives continuously and in hard-to-track numbers, while killings are relatively rare, albeit all too frequent.
The origin of the weapons used separates urban violence from other forms of violence. Generally, domestic violence, suicides and killings involve weapons obtained legally, while urban crime is equipped on the black market. In the United States, one-sixth of handguns used in the commission of a crime were acquired legally.
It is in this context that Bill C-21, as unfair as it is, must be understood. Its objective is to reduce the violence caused by firearms legally owned by Canadians, including suicides, their use in domestic violence and killings.