So the David Frum canard about Canada having more crime than the U.S. is now making the rounds amongst the right wing commentators in the U.S.
Again they note that we have more 'reported' crime in Canada. That's cause we keep better statistics than the U.S. and have a higher rate of reporting.
The fact that is overlooked is the drop in the crime rate including violent crime in Canada. But hey never let the facts get in the way of ideology.Except for an increase in 2003, the crime rate has generally been falling since 1991 when it peaked. Police reported about 2.6 million offences in 2004, resulting in a crime rate that was 12% lower than a decade ago.
In total, about 300,000 violent crimes were reported to police in 2004, the majority of which were common assault. The violent crime rate fell 2%, continuing a general decline since 1992. The violent crime rate was 10% lower than a decade earlier, but 35% higher than 20 years ago.
Canada's homicide rate rose 12% in 2004 after hitting a 36-year low the year before. Police reported 622 victims of homicide, 73 more than last year. Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec accounted for most of this increase. The rate of 1.9 homicides for every 100,000 population was 5% lower than it was 10 years earlier
And we don't have eight year olds bringing guns to day care, or licensed to hunt.
Which must gets poor Mr. Gottlieb really upset. He got all verklempt over the Wisconsin decision by the Govenor to veto allowing eight year olds hunting licenses.
Damn Canadian Gun Control freeks. Of course he denies that Canada's current gun problem is one of illegal importation of guns from the U.S. So where did they come from? Who knows. Maybe out of thin air.
Recently, Canada has blamed the United States for its dramatic increase in violent crime; but the problem isn't Americans illegally running guns to Canada, but Canadian criminals illegally importing guns from wherever they can get them,
says Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.And of course during this election the Conservatives used skewed crime rates to create a hysteria that we had an increasing crime rate rather than the historically factual decline in crime. Not unlike the Canadian pro gun lobby which likes to use selective statistics to prove Canada is prone to violent crime, but not gun crime. Which is because we have gun control. And while the gun registry has been a billion dollar boondoogle and an afront to registered gun owners it is not the reason for increased gun crimes in Canada. Nope. It's all those mysterious guns arriving in Canada from who knows where.
Canada's Crime Rate 50 % Higher than U.S.
"Blaming the United States for Canadian crime is an argument that does not pass the smell test,” Gottlieb wrote. "Canada's experience has simply demonstrated that no matter what kind of gun control law a government passes, that law is doomed to failure because instead of keeping guns out of the wrong hands, the law disarms the wrong people. Canada's gun control scheme has not just failed - it has failed disastrously. Clear evidence of that can be found in a comparison of the crime rates for Canada and America.”
Gottlieb cites an article by Canada's National Post columnist David Frum where he revealed that "Canada's overall crime rate is now 50 percent higher than the crime rate in the United States.” Moreover, "Since the early 1990s, crime rates have dropped in 48 of the 50 states and 80 percent of American cities. Over that same period, crime rates have risen in six of the 10 Canadian provinces and in seven of Canada’s 10 biggest cities.”
Gun Rights Group Praises Canadian Gun Owners for Conservative Victory "Liberal Democrats now need to take a lesson from Canada's election," Gottlieb stated, "because the whole world is watching. It's clear there is a movement growing around the globe. Brazilian citizens last year rejected a national gun ban, and now, Canadian gun owners have spoken. Americans have been telling liberal Democrats for more than a decade that gun control is a losing proposition, and the elections in Brazil and Canada prove that."
"Gun owners around the world can't make it any more plain," Gottlieb concluded. "We're telling politicians to keep their hands off our guns, because firearm ownership is more than a recreational pastime, it is a symbol of liberty. There's a line in the sand stretching from Houston to Hudson's Bay. Cross it at your own peril."
CCRKBA Applauds Canada Gun Owners For Kicking Out Liberal Extremists
Also see:
Canadian Crime Statistics
Explaining the American and Canadian Crime Drop in the 1990’s.
Firearm Crimes, Canada Vs. US
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