In 1990, 35,717 Canadians died as a result of smoking, 422 died of drug abuse, and 18,624 were alcohol related deaths. Of these, 2,959 died directly from alcohol abuse, 15, 665 deaths were indirectly due to alcohol, including 1,805 motor vehicle accidents, 1,015 suicides, and 330 homicides. In 1990, 3,957 people were killed in automobile accidents, 1,324 people were killed by guns, including those shot by police. Of these deaths, 1,054 were suicides, 180 homicides, 66 accidental, and 22 unspecified.
You do not need to be a mathematician to see what is causing the most and the least amount of death by man-made contrivances. You might think that a government with conscience might be on a nation wide campaign to eliminate smoking, alcohol and drug consumption, and highway mayhem. Far from it! As long as the great tax bonanza is in place, they look the other way and pursue elimination of gun ownership where they have no great tax rip-off. When you remove the 1,054 suicides (people who died because they chose to die, and were not attacked by guns) the balance of actual gun deaths is 270. Now which do you think is the greater problem - the thousands killed by the above causes, or the 270 deaths by guns?
Mr. Rock was recently quoted in the Calgary Herald saying "most people will be surprised to know that the number of people killed by guns in Canada is the same as the number killed by auto accidents."
Stats Canada says in 1990, 3,957 were killed by cars and 1,324 by guns (1,054 by suicide). He also was quoted as saying that in Canada a women is shot and killed by a husband every six days. His above statements are an obvious misrepresentation of facts. We are also told that we are more liable to be killed guns than any other method, which is 100% wrong. Stats Canada says in the period of 1926 to 1992, 64% of all homicides and suicides DID NOT involve fire arms. In a recent court case in Calgary, Karim Hami was convicted of the murder of John Randahl, who was knifed to death. Crown prosecutor Gary Belecki told the court "the use of knives in this community is close to epidemic proportions". In another case a man was charged with murdering a friend by firing about a hundred staples into his head with a carpenters staple gun.
The legitimate, law abiding gun owners of Canada have never been any part of the crime problem in Canada, and never will be. But they are the very people who the existing laws and as well as the proposed gun laws will be directed against.