More Than a Third of Toronto Police ‘Crime Guns’ Aren’t Firearms

September 14, 2018

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Crime Guns Aren't Firearms TheGunBlog.ca — More than a third of the so-called “crime guns” seized by Toronto police last year weren’t firearms, and many were never used in a crime, according to an analysis of police data obtained by Dennis Young, fuelling new concerns about the reliability of crime statistics.

The data show 469, or 65 percent, of the 726 “crime guns” seized by Toronto police in 2017 were counted among the three classes of firearms in the Firearms Act: “Non-restricted,” “Restricted” or “Prohibited.” That leaves 35 percent that weren’t firearms regulated by the Firearms Act.

See the interactive charts below.

Young, a researcher and gun-rights advocate, obtained the information from the Toronto Police Service through a special request to access internal reports. He published it Aug. 30 on his website.

Counting non-firearms and non-crimes as “crime guns” makes the data unreliable, and undermines confidence in police statistics. It also risks misleading politicians, policymakers and the public if they mistakenly believe “crime guns” are firearms used in crime.

Compounding the imprecise terminology on firearms and crime is when statistics are deliberately misrepresented.

Last month TheGunBlog.ca reviewed a smaller data series provided by the police. The analysis found the percentage of Toronto “crime guns” traced to Canada fell for a second straight year in 2017 to the lowest level in at least four years, contrasting with claims that outlaws are getting more of their firearms from domestic sources.

Read: Toronto ‘Crime Guns’ Traced to Canada Fell to New Low in 2017

Matt Gurney of Global News last week used the police data from Young to destroy the “domestically sourced crime gun” conspiracy. Gary Mauser, professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University, further crunched the numbers.

Definitions

The documents obtained by Young show how the police define “crime gun”:

Any firearm that has been used or suspected to have been used in a criminal offence

Any firearm that is obtained, possessed, or intended to be used to facilitate criminal activity

Any firearm that has had a serial number removed, altered or obliterated

Any weapon that has been adapted for use as a firearm.

Some of the non-Firearms Act objects that police might count as “crime guns” include air guns, antique firearms, flare guns, homemade firearms, nail guns, paintball guns, replica guns, starter pistols, stun guns, tasers, toy guns, zip guns, and anything gun-like but deemed a non-firearm.

Not only do the police count non-firearms as guns, they also count non-crime as crime.

Example of Non-Firearms Counted as ‘Crime Guns’

A pellet gun or toy gun is used to rob a bank.

Example of Non-Crime Firearms Counted as ‘Crime Guns’

Police raid a drug dealer and seize firearms that were never used or intended to be used in a crime.

“Toronto Police inflate ‘crime gun’ stats,” Rick Hemmingson, a lawyer in Alberta, said Sept. 1 on Facebook. “This includes firearms that were never, ever used in a crime.”

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The police held a press conference on Aug. 2 showing some of the 25 firearms seized in an investigation of illegal drug sellers. One firearm was on top of a pile of drugs at one location, but more than a dozen others were stored legally. Watch the video.

Reporter: Do you have any reason to believe that any of the firearms here were used in a crime?

Officer in Charge: I don’t have any reason to believe that. I don’t have any information on that.