Comparing Firearm related Homicides rates between Canada and the United States

Canada and the United States have significantly different homicide rates: In 2008 it was 1.83 per 100,000 population in Canada, and 5.4 in the U.S. We can find the breakdown by method for Canada at Statistics Canada, and for the U.S. at the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program.

Country	Homicide Rate	percent knife	knife rate	percent firearm	firearm rate
Canada	1.83	32.7%	0.6	32.7%	0.6
United States	5.4	13.4%	0.72	67.1%	3.62

There is a very similar likelihood of being murdered by knife in the two countries, but you are six times more likely to be murdered by gun in the United States. There are many differences between our two societies, including gun control legislation. It is not a large stretch of the imagination to assume that the more lax gun laws in the United States contribute to this disparity.

In both countries handguns contribute to a larger percentage of these homicides. These can be found from Statistics Canada, and the FBI's UCR.

Country	Rate	Handgun		Long Gun
		Percent	Rate	Percent	Rate
Canada	0.6	60.5%	0.36	17.0%	0.1
United States	3.62	71.37%	2.59	8.63%	0.31
Ratio US:Canada		7.14		3.07

You are 7.14 times as likely to be shot with a handgun in the U.S. as in Canada, and 3.07 times as likely with a long gun. Does our gun control legislation have a role to play? I believe the situation is very complex, but I don't think we can ignore the effect of that legislation. In an earlier blog entry I overlaid various gun control measures with our homicide rate.