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US GUNS FUEL CANADA AND MEXICO CRIMESRESEARCH PUBLISHED IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICELos Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (July 29, 2009) - Guns, smuggled from the US, arm criminals in Canada and Mexico, contributing to a higher murder rate in Canada and more intense drug crime conflict near the Mexican border, according to a study published today by SAGE in a special issue of Criminology and Criminal Justice. In their article, The Illicit Firearms Trade in North America, authors Philip J. Cook, of Duke University Durham, NC, US, Wendy Cukier Ryerson of the University of Toronto, and Keith Krause from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva, Switzerland draw upon economics concepts, examining gun crime in the context of each country’s regulatory framework. Gun violence in North America remains the subject of considerable speculation and debate. The US is undoubtedly a major supplier of illegal guns (particularly handguns) to both Canada and Mexico. Data shows that the majority of traced handguns recovered from Canadian crime scenes originate in US and investigators have traced 90 to 95 percent of weapons in Mexico to the US, but how did they get there? The guns sampled may not represent the bigger picture since the figure reflects just firearms submitted for tracing by authorities, who recover only a fraction of firearms from crimes, and request tracing only in certain cases. "Although we know that armed violence can have a variety of deleterious effects on perceived and real insecurity, public health, economic development, and political stability, we do not know how much of this can be associated specifically with the availability of firearms," writes Cook about the specific impact and effects of illicitly trafficked firearms. "The use of guns by criminal groups increases their relative power, and contributes to subverting legitimate authority and creating such fear as to have a substantial economic and political impact." A major source of illegal guns in Canada, and in other countries is "leakage" from state stockpiles (police and military) through theft, corruption or other means. For instance, ’insiders’ illegally sold over 3000 firearms recovered in crime or surrendered in amnesties to the Metropolitan Toronto Police Service. Some weapons used in Mexican crimes such as grenades, RPGs and fully automatic weapons are less easy to acquire in the US, and have probably arrived from elsewhere. This contrasts with Canada, where very few cases detail handguns from anywhere but the US, other than arms illegally diverted from legal Canadian supplies. The rate of gun homicide in Canada is statistically low and falling, yet public perception is that gun crime is rising. When Toronto, a city with 2.8 million people hit 52 gun homicides in 2005, it became "the year of the gun" in spite of the fact that the city had one of the lowest murder rates on the continent for a city of its size. Rates of homicide with guns are 6.7 times higher in the US than in Canada, and the US has 5.1 times Canada’s rate per 100,000 of gun robberies. The authors speculate US authorities would not only have to stem the supply of smuggled weapons from the US, but also other potential sources to successfully block the flow of deadly arms to criminals and criminal organisations. Statements made by public officials are usually intended to influence public opinion by offering conclusions, rather than to inform researchers’ analyses, the authors believe. They call for more data from criminal investigations and gun tracing to be made available to researchers. "A broader inquiry is warranted," says Cook. "The stakes are very high for developing effective strategies for limiting the illicit movements of guns." |
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### SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com All articles in the special issue of Criminology and Criminal Justice will be freely available for a limited time at http://crj.sagepub.com/. For interviews with authors from the special issue contact Mithu Mukherjee, mithu.mukherjee@sagepub.co.uk +44(0)20 7324 2223. |
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