Recently, there has been another fatal shooting in Canada.
On July 26, local time, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on social platforms that he was "shocked" by the shooting in Langley, British Columbia.
The day before, a series of shootings near Langley, British Columbia, had killed 2 victims and seriously injured 2, and police had killed a gunman. At present, the police do not know the motive of the gunman and whether the gunman and the victim are related.
Shootings in Canada are rarer than in neighboring the United States, but have been on the rise in recent years, as the government has escalated gun control laws. Foreign media analysis shows that as gun violence in Canada continues to increase, weapons from the United States have complicated Canada's gun control efforts.
On July 25, 2022, local time, a series of shootings occurred in Langley, Canada, which have killed 3 people and seriously injured 2 people, and the scene of the crime has pulled a cordon. Figure/IC photo
The motives for the crime are not yet clear
According to Reuters, on July 25, local time, a series of shootings occurred in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. At present, the shooting has killed 3 people, including one gunman, and seriously injured 2 people.
The series of shootings began on the night of July 25, spanning nearly six hours, involving at least five locations, and the gunman was killed on the spot by local police.
Canadian police said the first shooting began at midnight, the second occurred at 3 o'clock, and the third and fourth at 5 o'clock and 5:45 a.m. respectively, and lasted nearly 6 hours before and after; The crime site is mainly located in langley city center, including a casino, a homeless shelter, a bus stop and a highway side road. After the shooting, several of the premises involved were closed to the public.
On July 25, 2022, local time, a series of shootings occurred in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Figure/IC photo
At present, the identity of the gunman, who is named Jordan Daniel Goggin, 28 years old, from Surrey, British Columbia, whose motives, whether he had any relationship with the victims and whether he committed the crime alone also need to be further confirmed.
"We are still investigating whether the gunman committed the crime alone, but all indications at the moment are that no one else was involved in this shooting and will not pose a further threat to public safety." Royal Mounted Police (RCMP) Sheriff Ghalib Bayani said at a news conference.
There has been a spate of shootings in British Columbia
The shooting in Langley City is the latest in recent weeks in British Columbia. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, there have been several shootings in British Columbia in recent weeks.
On July 24, local time, a shooting incident occurred in Whistler, a resort where the province had co-hosted the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, killing 2 people; On July 14, local time, a Canadian man named Ripdaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted in a terrorist attack on an Air India flight, was shot and killed in the city of Surrey, province; At the end of June, a bank in Sanitsi, a regional borough in the provincial capital, was robbed and several people were shot in a gun battle.
On June 28, 2022, local time, a shooting incident occurred in Sanić, British Columbia, Canada. Figure/IC photo
Mike Farnworth, the minister of public safety in British Columbia, Canada, said the latest shooting in Langley was a "senseless act of violence" that would leave residents feeling "uneasy."
"When a shooting like this happens, I know people in British Columbia will feel fear and worry." Mike Farnworth said: "And we don't yet know the motive behind the shooting. ”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was shocked by the shooting in the city of Langley. On July 26, local time, he wrote on social platforms: "I feel heartbroken for the victim's relatives and the community in which I live, my heart is with the injured, and I hope that the injured person will recover as soon as possible." This violence has no place in any of our communities. ”
Shootings in Canada are on the rise year by year
Like its neighbor, the United States, Canada allows people to legally carry guns, but shootings in Canada are less common than in the United States, which is related to its gun culture and stricter gun control.
Canada's gun culture is reflected in the fact that people hold guns mainly for sports (target shooting), hunting, collecting and other project activities.
Not only that, but Canada's gun control measures are very strict. Canada expressly stipulates that the public prohibits fully automatic rifles, special hand rifles, police military firearms, etc., and it is illegal for individuals to possess serial weapons or to possess pistols without registration. If you want to obtain a firearm for hunting or other purposes, you must apply for a special permit to qualify for a gun. Canadians aged 18 and over must obtain a license through a firearms safety course, and Aboriginal people engaged in traditional hunting activities may not be required to attend a firearm safety course, but will need to be recommended by a community elder to confirm that they have the necessary firearms knowledge. In addition, Canadians are subject to personal background assessments and criminal record investigations. Even if a gun license is obtained, the storage of firearms usually requires "separation of guns and bullets".
Statistics Canada data shows that while shootings are relatively rare in Canada, they are more common than in many other developed countries and have been on the rise in recent years. In other words, the recent increase in shootings is not limited to British Columbia.
On May 16, 2021, local time, a shooting occurred in Etobecock, Toronto, Canada, killing 1 person and injuring 3 others. Figure/IC photo
Statistics Canada's website discloses data on gun violence in the country from 2009 to 2020, with Saskatchewan, Manitoba and other provinces with the highest rates of gun-related violent crime. Shooting violence has been on the rise since 2013. From 19 shootings per 100,000 people in 2013 to 29 shootings per 100,000 people in 2020. In addition, there are clear urban-rural differences in gun violence, with the most common firearms in urban gun violence being pistols, while in rural areas it is rifles or shotguns.
The worst shooting in Canadian history occurred in 2020, when a shooting in Nova Scotia on Canada's east coast killed 22 people. The shooting killed more than the 1989 Montreal Polytechnic shooting, which killed 14 people.
For why shootings in Canada have become more frequent in recent years, the US "Fortune" magazine analysis said that this is related to Canada's previous relaxation of gun control laws. Canada once allowed the private sale of firearms, allowing people who could not legally buy guns at the merchant to exploit loopholes, resulting in an increase in gun ownership among Canadians.
But easing gun control is just one reason, with Fortune reporting that experts agree that the illegal smuggling of guns from the United States into the country is a major challenge for Canada right now.
After the 1989 shooting, Canada overhauled its gun laws. Gun control has since been relaxed, but after the 2020 shooting in Canada's east coast of Nova Scotia, the government further tightened gun laws, prohibiting the sale, transportation, import and use of about 1,500 military-grade or assault firearms. In May, Canada introduced its latest gun control bill, C-21, which proposes to freeze the sale and transfer of firearms to limit the supply of handguns in the country. At the same time, penalties for smuggling firearms have been increased.
The increased penalties for gun smuggling are one of Canada's attempts to address the problem of illegally smuggling guns into the United States.
On July 9, local time, the NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE TITLED "As gun violence in Canada continues to increase, weapons from the United States complicate Canada's gun control efforts." Guns from the United States were used in criminal activities across Canada, and the gunmen of the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, Canada, smuggled three weapons from the U.S. state of Maine.
Benoy Dube, head of quebec's interagency task force on gun violence, said most of the crime-related gun weapons seized in Quebec came from the United States.
Toronto Police Commissioner Myron Demkie also said toronto's problems are mainly from U.S. handguns, with "86 percent of the handguns seized in Toronto in 2021 coming from the U.S." As of June 2022, the Toronto Police Department reported 201 shootings, up 15 percent from the same period in 2021 and up 29 percent in homicides.
"American guns kill not only Americans, they kill Canadians." Wendy Kukkir, president of the Canadian nonprofit Gun Control Coalition, said.
Beijing News reporter Zhu Yuehong
Edited by Chen Jing, proofread by Wu Xingfa