Controls on civilian use of firearms date from the early days of Confederation, when justices of the peace could impose penalties for carrying a handgun without reasonable cause.[4] Amendments to the Criminal Code between the 1890s and the 1970s introduced a series of minor controls on firearms. In the late 1970s, controls of intermediate strength were introduced. In the mid-1990s, significant increases in controls occurred. Only 2.3% of households possess a handgun.
And now this in the news: Canada’s national homicide rate last year was the highest it’s been in a decade because of a spike in gang-related violence and shootings. Much of the increase was linked to a dramatic rise in the number of gun-related killings, which itself was driven by more gang-related violence.
“Gang-related homicides committed with a firearm represented 12 per cent of all homicides in 2015,” Statistics Canada said. “By 2017, this proportion had grown to 21 per cent.”
In a report released Wednesday, the agency said there were 660 reported homicides in Canada last year.
Not only was that an increase of nearly eight per cent from 2016, it also pushed up the homicide rate to 1.8 victims for every 100,000 people — the highest since 2009.