Template:Table C-3: Suicide in Canada

Table C-3: Suicide in Canada, 2000-2007

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Total suicides	3,606	3,692	3,650	3,765	3,613	3,743	3,512	3,611
Change:	n/a	+2.4%	-1.1%	+3.2%	-4.0%	+3.6%	-6.2%	+2.8%
Suicide by Firearm	685	651	633	618	568	593	586	534
Change:	n/a	-4.9%	-2.8%	-2.4%	-8.1%	+4.4%	-1.2%	-8.9%

Data from the above table in graph form.

Comparing the changes in rates.

Canadian gun grabbers are fond of trying to justify the existence of the Canada Firearms Act and the long gun registry by trumpeting that "incidents of suicide by firearm are down by (X) percent since the registry came into force," as if that actually meant something. The purpose of this argument is to give the illusion that lives are somehow being saved, presumably because over 75% of all firearm deaths are suicides (see Table C-1: Firearm deaths in Canada). Curiously enough, suicide rarely if ever gets mentioned when they talk about total firearm deaths.

The fact of the matter is that the absence of a firearm does not prevent suicide; it merely changes the method. If this were not so, we would see a corresponding decrease in the total number of suicides but, as the data above shows, there is no such relation.

References

Actual terms used in the StatsCan report are "Intentional self-harm (suicide)" and "Intentional self-harm (suicide) by discharge of firearms."

Number Crunching

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