Homicide rate in Canada

Homicide rates have been tracked by Statistics Canada since at least 1961. Firearms have been involved in about 30% of all homicides over the past decade. The following graph shows the homicide rate for the years 1961-2008, and the various gun legislations are overlaid. Have these legislations played a role in the decreases observed after they have been implemented?

The Long Gun Registry component of bill C-68 was implemented in 2001 and became mandatory on January 1, 2003. Note from my previous blog entry that long gun homicides did decrease after this time, but overall homicides and handgun homicides in particular increased.