It was impossible to watch the Liberal rollout of new firearms legislation Tuesday without seeing the brave survivors of the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland, Fla.Or the news breaking from Maryland where another school shooting injured two and ended with the gunman dead, the 17th school shooting in the U.S. this year, according to CNN. That’s more than one per week.Or Las Vegas. Or Orlando.Or, closer to home, the tragic death of 29-year-old Ruma Amar, gunned down at a Toronto bowling alley Saturday night. Or 26-year-old Nnamdi Ogba, shot to death in Etobicoke the night before.That’s because Canadians often prove much more proficient in lamenting the gun lunacy to the south than taking a closer look at home.Whether one believes gun violence statistics that accompanied the tabling of the legislation were there to provide cover or not, they are real and should get Canadians’ attention.Canadian gun ownership, 31 firearms per 100 residents, puts this country anywhere between seventh to 15th for highest gun ownership worldwide. It is difficult to peg exactly, because the data from the Small Arms Survey is dated, although still seen as the most reliable number out there.That rate is probably higher now. And it certainly does not include illegal firearms.Much of that firearms ownership reflects the rural nature of parts of this country, but, as Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale pointed out Tuesday, gun violence in Saskatchewan and the Atlantic Provinces is more prevalent outside the cities.In the past five years, gun-related homicides, gun deaths involving intimate partners, criminal gang activity and gun thefts are all up significantly.So are the number of illicit firearms seized at the border.Criminal violations involving firearms were up by 30 per cent from 2013-2016, and gun homicides in the same period went from 134 to 223.Intimate partner gun violence went up by one third in that period and incidents of break-and-enter to steal guns ...
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