For a country generally thought to have rigid gun control, Canada is seeing an alarming amount of gun crime.
A new report out of New Brunswick illustrates just how often guns are being used in cases of domestic homicide in the province.
Domestic homicide statistics on weapons, motives and locations are just a few items detailed in the study released Wednesday.
“What they’re saying is domestic homicides violence continues to be an issue, not only in New Brunswick, but across Canada,” says Greg Forestell, the province’s chief coroner.
According to the report, more than a third of the 91 homicides in the province reported between 1999 and 2008 were domestic homicides.
It says 37.5 per cent of the victims were shot.
“What we found was a high percentage of deaths were a result of firearms and because of that, the committee, when they look at this they’re looking at strategies to prevent those types of deaths,” says Forestell.
Of the 32 domestic homicides, most of the victims were between the ages of 30 and 49, while eight were children under the age of 15.
Sheri Coburn, chair of the Domestic Violence Community Action Group, says the findings of the study will help people who work with those involved in domestic violence and safety planning.
“When we’re working with individuals who we feel are at risk, or who we’ve identified as being at risk, knowing that kind of information, knowing if there are firearms in the home, knowing if it’s registered, knowing of outstanding reasons why it shouldn’t be in the home, any additional information we have when we’re safety planning is essential in making a solid safety plan,” says Coburn.
The report was prepared by Carmen Gill of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre in Fredericton, which does research and provides public education on the issue of family violence.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar and The Canadian Press
