![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4803685.1535569083!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.png_gen\/derivatives\/original_780\/homicide-by-method-640-by-400.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe use of handguns, specifically, has also been on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were 130 homicides committed with a handgun<\/a> in 2016, Statistics Canada said in a recent report, which was the most in more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Handguns accounted for 21 per cent of the total homicides that year, and 58 per cent of the shooting homicides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the United States, by comparison, the report notes there were 7,105 homicides committed with a handgun in 2016, accounting for 47 per cent of all homicides south of the border that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, not all shootings are fatal, and guns can be used in a variety of criminal ways. So, has gun crime, in general, been rising or falling?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It depends where you look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gun crime tends to ebb and flow in Canada\u2019s largest urban centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From 2013 to 2016, Edmonton had the highest rate of violent crime involving a firearm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But gun crime has been on decline in the Alberta capital and it has since been overtaken, slightly, by Calgary \u2014 and even more so by Toronto <\/a>\u2014 on that front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rate of violent gun crime (measured in terms of victims per 100,000 population) has been on the rise in Toronto for the past four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vancouver, by contrast, which had the highest rate back in 2012, has seen a steady decline in violent gun crime<\/a> and, by 2017, it had the lowest rate of five urban centres studied. (Montreal and Quebec City are excluded from this report due to differences in data collection methods.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The use of firearms in crime raises the question: Where did the guns come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past, police have said most crime guns were smuggled into Canada from the United States. But there\u2019s some evidence that\u2019s been changing, with police in Toronto citing a recent surge in the number of illegal guns sourced from within our national borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the stats do show an increase in the theft of firearms, but there\u2019s a bit of catch to those numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While legal gun owners are being charged less frequently with unsafe storage of a firearm, the number of gun-theft charges has grown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the specific offence of \u201cbreaking and entering to steal firearm\u201d was only added to the Criminal Code of Canada<\/a> in 2008 and Statistics Canada only began tracking charges under this law in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, the rate of these crimes has more than tripled since then, but some degree of ramping up is to be expected, as police services across the country adapt to a new law. And the number of gun thefts edged downward in 2017, with 1,175 incidents last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gun-theft data includes break-ins to both buildings and vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But police admit there\u2019s is no thorough way to account for the origins of all guns that are used in criminal activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The RCMP recently told CBC News that \u201cno such data exists\u201d to provide \u201ca complete, national picture of the sources of crime guns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not just in crime, however, that guns can bring harm to Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every year, hundreds of people are accidentally shot, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the safest and legitimate ways to handle cases pending in court is through guns and gang defence counsel Burlington, who are endowed with impeccable skills regarding the possession of guns and ammunitions. The criminal defense lawyer<\/a> will be in a position to challenge the legality of the search warrant imposed by the law enforcers, limit questioning by the authorities as well as avoid possible detention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Guns have been thrust back into the national discourse recently, in the wake of the mass shooting in downtown Toronto and the federal government\u2019s plans to explore a potential \u201cfull ban\u201d on handguns and… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westmichiganregional.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Edmonton no longer gun-crime capital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4803697.1535569725!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.png_gen\/derivatives\/original_780\/firearm-violent-crime-major-cities.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGuns stolen in break and enters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4803703.1535578034!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.png_gen\/derivatives\/original_780\/gun-break-and-enters-and-unsafe-storage.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSome possible defense tactics to be applied by gangs in possession of guns.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n