John Lott's Website: Even if their governent doesn't understand, Canadians Seem to understand that punishment deters criminals

1/05/2006

More than three-quarters of Toronto residents believe lenient judges are allowing gun crime to flourish in Canada's cities, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the National Post and Global News. . . .

Eighty-nine per cent of Toronto residents polled blamed gangs for the shootings that have made gun crime a top issue in the federal election campaign while 78% cited drugs and drug trafficking. . . .

3 Comments:

Anonymous said...: If so, why does Canada have a homicide rate 3 to 4 times lower than that of the US? Please, enlighten us.

By the way, I read your absurd comparison of Canada and the US's crime rates. Don't even bother posting that. Here's a little hint for you: different sources measure different things.; 1/05/2006 1:10 PM
John Lott said...: There are lots of reasons why different countries have different crime rates: such as demographics, drug gangs, and law enforcement. There are huge differences in violent crime rates within the US also (e.g., about 50 percent of the counties have zero murders in any given year). What you want to look at is how the murder rates for an area varies when you have a change in gun control laws and hopefully study many different areas that have had the changes. (See chapter 5 in The Bias Against Guns for a more indepth discussion.)

If you look at the International Crime Victimization Survey (located at the bottom right hand column of this website), you will see that Canada's violent crime rate (robbery, assaults, and sexual assaults) is twice the US rate.; 1/05/2006 3:27 PM
CMR said...: Thanks, Professor Lott,

for your info on the Canadian crime rates. Wish more folks would understand that it is humanly impossible for police to be everywhere, and therefore it is up to an armed populace to defend themselves.

The dumb beasts have sharp teeth, agility, and claws that we do not possess. Why can't we exercise our God-given right to defend ourselves when our lives are threatened?

The recent proposal by the Toronto mayor to install surveillance cameras will accomplish nothing.
Sadly, there have been murders recorded on videotape. The victims are still dead, the cameras are still rolling, and who knows about the murderer(s)?; 1/05/2006 6:12 PM