Research Summary: Domestic Violence Involving Firearms

Notice: The information contained in this document is considered accurate the date of publication. The information has not been updated to reflect any changes to the Firearms Act and related regulations

[1]

What Are the Statistics on Homicide Involving Firearms?

Over the past decade, there was an average of 1,300 deaths involving firearms per year in Canada. Homicides accounted for about 15% of all firearm deaths, suicides 80%[2], and accidents 5%.[3]

In 1996, there were a total of 633 homicides in Canada and of these, 33% (211) involved firearms. Firearm homicides as a proportion of total homicides has remained relatively constant at about 33% over the past 10 years.[4]

From 1985 to 1995 inclusive, the average firearm homicide rate per 100,000 population was 0.7 in Canada, compared to 5.6 in the United States.[5]

In 1996, 49% of all solved firearm homicides involved acquaintances, 18% involved a spouse, 22% involved other relatives, and 11% were killed by strangers. [6]

In 1996, 34% (27) of all spousal homicide victims were killed by firearms. [7]

What Does the Research Tell Us about Spousal Violence and Spousal Homicide Committed with Firearms?

Who are the victims of spousal homicide?

Over the past decade, three times more women than men were killed by their spouse each year. In 1996, 78% (62) of all spousal homicide victims were female and 22% (18) were male.[8]

A Statistics Canada report found that during the period from 1974 to 1992, a married woman was nine times more likely to be killed by her husband than a stranger.[9]

According to Statistics Canada, teenaged wives (aged 15-19) are at a greater risk of being killed by their spouse than any other age group. The rate at which men commit spousal homicide is highest in the 35-49 age group.[10]

How do firearms differ from other methods of spousal homicide?

The research on homicide suggests that given an attack, firearms are more likely to result in serious injury and death than if another weapon is used. [11] Firearm attacks are about three times more likely to result in death than knife attacks and many times more likely to be lethal than attacks involving other methods.[12]

Saltzman et al. found that firearm -associated family and intimate assaults were twelve times more likely to result in death than non-firearm incidents. [13]

According to a Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics report on weapons and violent crime, between 1985 and 1994, the leading method used to kill a female spouse was shooting (40% of all female spousal homicides). The second leading method was stabbing (25%), followed by beating (18%), and other means (17%).[14]

What are the characteristics of spousal homicide?

Statistics Canada data consistently indicates that over 85% of spousal homicides occur in a private residence. Detailed data collected in 1991-1992 found that of those incidents that were committed in a private residence, 97% occurred in the home of the wife and/or the husband. [15]

A report prepared for the Department of Justice Canada found that 70% of men who shot and killed their wives in 1989 and 1990 subsequently turned the gun on themselves.[16]

With respect to incidents where husbands killed their wives, the above research report revealed: in 81% of the cases violent disputes preceded the homicide; alcohol abuse played a part in almost two-thirds of all incidents; over half of the husbands had a criminal record; one-half of the accused were experiencing financial difficulty; and, in 18% of the cases the accused was illegally possessing a firearm at the time of the incident. [17]

The report also indicated that in almost one-half of the incidents the victims and the accused were in the process of negotiating a separation or divorce. In 40% of the cases there had been a recent separation of residence.[18]

Analysis of Statistics Canada data suggests that separated couples are at greater risk for homicide compared to co-residing couples. The increased risk to wives is six-fold and for husbands it is three-fold. [19]

For both men and women, the risk of spousal homicide is much greater in common-law marriages than in registered marriages. [20]

Statistics Canada reported that spousal homicide rates increase as the age difference between wives and husbands increases.[21]

What type of firearms are used in spousal homicides?

Long guns are the most common type of firearm used in the spousal homicides. Over the past decade, 71% of spousal homicides involved rifles and shotguns, 24% involved a handgun, 4% involved the use of a sawed-off rifle/shotgun, and 1% involved other types of firearms. [22]

What Are the Effects of Canadian Gun Control Laws on Spousal Homicide Rates?

The Department of Justice Canada undertook a sophisticated statistical analysis of the 1977 legislation to assess the effects of the initiative on the incidence of firearms deaths. [23] Although the study did not include specific data on spousal homicide, it did conclude that the legislation hasmay have contributed to a 20% reduction in the homicide rate, or 55 lives per year, over the last two decades.

What Do We Know about Spousal Homicide Involving Firearms from International Research?

Research on spousal homicide data fromin New South Wales, Australia and Chicago, Illinois suggests that wives face the greatest risk of homicide within two months following separation. [24]

Data from Canada, the United States and Britain consistently show that men are more likely than women to use firearms to commit spousal homicide, whereas a higher percentage of women than men stab their spouse. [25]

How Is the Canadian Firearms Legislation Designed to Address Spousal Homicide Involving Firearms?

A Firearms Acquisition Certificate is currently required to acquire firearms. Under the new licencing system either a possession licence or an acquisition licence will be required by all gun owners which must be renewed every five years. Applicants must provide information regarding personal history and references. Through the screening process, the applicant may be refused if it is deemed "desirable in the interest of the safety of the applicant or any other person that the applicant should not acquire a firearm".[26]

The proposed regulations to support the Firearms Act stipulate that,, when individuals apply for a licence to acquire a firearm, their current or former spouse or common-law partner with whom they have lived within the past two years will be provided with an opportunity to voice any concerns they may have about their safety or the safety of others. A licence can be revoked if the licencee is involved in an act of domestic violence.

Legislative requirements on safe handling and storage currently exist for individual gun owners. These provisions are intended to regulate specific activities where the unsafe storage or handling of a firearm may present a safety risk, to reduce the risk of theft, and to make firearms less accessible to persons in the household who may present a risk to themselves or others.

The Canadian Firearms Safety Course has been developed as a standard, national course so that potential firearm owners are familiar with the firearms laws and regulations - the focus is on safety, including the ethicsocial responsibilities and ethics of firearm owners and users (e.g., ensure that firearms are removed from situations usersof potential violence). Persons wishing to acquire firearms are required to complete the course and pass the test or satisfy alternative requirements.

Universal registration is a central feature of the new Firearms Act. Registration of all firearms will serve to enhance the accountability of firearm owners and thereby promote safer storage of firearms. Also, knowledge of who owns firearms will: facilitate the removal of firearms in situations in which the possessor is at risk of misuse; assist police in determining the type and number of firearms they may encounter when responding to an emergency call; and provide police with information on the number of guns known to be in the home when enforcing a prohibition order. Knowledge of who owns firearms can also facilitate efforts to inform firearm owners of their obligations under the legislation, including safe storage regulations.

Prohibition orders can be invoked by the courts if it is deemed that the safety of an individual or the public could be threatened by an individual's acquisition of a firearm. In cases where firearms are in the individual's possession, prohibition orders provide for their removal.

Police powers to search and seize firearms allow for intervention in situations of danger. Where a person is in possession of a firearm and the police have reasonable grounds to believe a person's safety is at risk, they have the authority to search and seize firearms with or without a warrant, depending on the circumstances. In either case, the police officer is required to appear before a justice for further direction. In the case where a search was conducted without a warrant, the officer is required to show the grounds for conducting such a search.

[1] This summary focuses on spousal homicide and does not include a review of other forms of domestic homicide (i.e., other family-related homicides). However, the research suggests that many of the risk factors identified in spousal homicide also pertain to the broader context of domestic homicide. Therefore, the preventive provisions of the firearms legislative initiative have been designed to address all forms of domestic homicide.

[2] For a review of the statistics and research on firearms suicide refer to "Research Summary Firearm Suicide", Department of Justice Canada.

[3] Statistics Canada, Causes of Death.

[4] Statistics Canada, Homicide SurveyFirearms Research Unit (Canada Firearms Centre) analysis of extractions from the Homicide Database maintained by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

[5] Hung, K., n.d., "Statistics Briefing Note: Firearms Crimes, Canada vs. U.S.", Department of Justice Canada.

[6] Firearms Research Unit, Homicide Database.

[7] Firearms Research Unit, Homicide Database.

[8] Fedorowycz, O., July 1997, "Homicide in Canada - 1996", Juristat, Volume 17, Number 9, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada.

[][][] Fedorowycz, "Homicide in Canada".

[9] Wilson & Daly, March 1994, "Spousal Homicide", Juristat, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada.

[10] Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[11] Gabor, T., 1994, The Impact of the Availability of Firearms on Violent Crime, Suicide, and Accidental Death, Department of Justice Canada.

[12] Kellermann et al., 1991; Block, 1977; Zimring, 1968; Reiss and Roth, 1993 cited in Gabor.

[13] Saltzman et al., 1992. "Weapon Involvement and Injury Outcomes in Family and Intimate Assaults", JAMA, Vol. 267, No. 22: 3043-3047.

[14] Leesti, T., June 1997, "Weapons and Violent Crime", Juristat, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada.

[15] Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[16] Dansys Consultants Inc., March 1992, Domestic Homicides Involving the Use of Firearms. Department of Justice Canada.

[17] Dansys Consultants Inc., Domestic Homicides.

[18] Dansys Consultants Inc., Domestic Homicides

[19] Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[20] Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[21] Wilson, Johnson & Daly, July 1995, "Lethal and nonlethal violence against wives", Canadian Journal of Criminology, pp. 37: 331-361; Wilson, Daly & Wright, July 1993, "Uxoricide in Canada: Demographic risk patterns" Canadian Journal of Criminology, 331-365: 263-291; Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[22] Leesti, "Weapons and Violent Crime".

[23] Department of Justice Canada, 1996, A Statistical Analysis of the Impacts of the 1977 Firearms Control Legislation.

[24] Wallace, A., 1986, Homicide: The social reality. Sydney, Australia: Bureau of New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research; Wilson & Daly, 1993, "Spousal homicide risk and estrangement", Violence and Victims, Vol. 8: 3-16 cited in Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[25] Wilson & Daly, 1992, "Who kills whom in spousal homicidee killing? On the exceptional sex ration of spousal homicides in the United States", Criminology, Vol. 30: 301-327189-215 cited in Wilson & Daly, "Spousal Homicide".

[26] Criminal Code, section 106(5).