Canadian Researchers: More Education, Gun Control Needed to Curb ‘Unintentional Firearm Injuries’

Canadian researchers, who released a study showing “one child or youth” is shot every day in Ontario, suggest more public health education and gun control are key ways of curbing the frequency of the incidents.

The study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

The researchers involved with the study believe more gun laws are needed at this time, including a focus on gun storage. Researchers also intimate that unintentional firearm injuries are tied to a lack of education in general, not simply firearm education.

The researchers note:

Household gun ownership increases the risk of unintentional firearm injuries. The lower rates of unintentional firearm injuries observed among nonrefugee immigrants may relate to low rates of firearm ownership by immigrants, residence in urban areas and selection policies for immigrants to Canada who are highly educated. The increasing risk of firearm injury with longer time spent in Canada highlights one area for possible public health education and consumer regulation around gun safety and storage.

It is interesting to note that Canada already has stringent gun control laws. Breitbart News reported that Canadian gun laws include criminal background checks, mental background checks, and licensing requirements for gun ownership.

Canada also requires checks to ensure the would-be gun owner does not have a history of or familial proclivity to domestic abuse. Additionally, the University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org reports that the would-be gun owner has to demonstrate a good reason for owning a gun, his “spouse, partner, or next of kin” has to be interviewed, and “third party character references” have to be submitted to the licensing authority.

Even with all these controls, researchers want more. They believe Canadians who jumped through myriad hoops for law-abiding gun ownership now need to face more “regulation” on gun storage.

Breitbart News has long contended that gun control is insidious. And once a nation, province, or U.S. state — like California or Washington — manages to expand background checks on law-abiding citizens, the appetite for more gun laws remains insatiable.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.