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Canada has a gun problem - The Globe and Mail

If Canada were included as part of the 31 countries that make up the wider European region, it would rank fourth in terms of gun-homicide rates. In terms of sheer numbers, only France, Germany and Italy have more gun deaths a year. Suddenly it seems as if Canada isn’t the haven of peace and gun harmony that people might think. And this is just homicides we’re talking about.

There is another darker, hidden toll that blights Canada – gun suicides. As the Department of Justice notes: “In Canada, about 80 per cent of firearm-related deaths are suicides.” According to gunpolicy.org, in the 35 countries in the Americas only the United States, Uruguay and Argentina have more recorded gun suicides per capita than Canada.

This is Canada’s real gun problem. Between 2003 and 2012, at least 5,616 people were reported to have shot and killed themselves. It’s a shocking firearm suicide rate, more than 12 times that of England and Wales (at about 80 firearm suicides a year).