Recently we wrote an article exploring the myth that Canada is more peaceful than the US. We used the most up to date statistics that we could find at the time of publication which was 2014 statistics. Since these were the statistics we used for that article, and like this article all of the material we source our findings off of was linked at the bottom of the page, anyone with a world view that opposed the article attacked the findings by attacking the 2014 statistics. The angle of attack against the article was that we used out of date statistics on purpose to slant the article into a viewpoint that we supported. Clearly they couldn't argue with the hard numbers that we sourced from trustworthy sites so they had to find a new avenue of attack. So we've done the same research, this time after having found the most up to date statistics at the time of publishing this article, 2015 statistics.

To view the original article based off of 2014 statistics click here.

To put it very simply; things haven't changed in regard to Canada having a higher per capita violent crime rate than the US. In 2015 the violent crime rate in Canada was 1,062 violent crimes per 100,000 population. The violent crime rate in the US for the same year was 372.6 crimes per 100,000 population. Both countries had an increase in violent crime over the previous year with Canada at 2% increase and the US at 3.1% increase. Canada still has nearly three times the amount of violent crime per capita over the United States.

What is of interest is where the violent crime rates in the US increased and where it decreased by area. In areas of concealed carry law passed crime decreased from 5.6 to 4.2 percent per 100,000 with increases of concealed carry permit holders for women by 270% and for men by 156% since 2007. In contrast to this statistical decrease in the US violent crime index where concealed carry firearms are allowed, severe crimes like and homicide in Canada rose by 15% from 1.47 in 2014 to 1.68 per 100,000 population in 2015.

Also in regard to the inevitable argument that Police officers should be the only people allowed to carry a firearm, either openly or concealed. It has been shown that concealed carry permit holders in Florida and Texas are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one sixth the rate that Police officers are convicted. Much like how in Canada licensed firearm owners are less likely to commit any type of crime, this holds true in the US with the concealed carry permit holding citizens having less of a statistical chance of committing a crime than the Police. Concealed carry permit courses also deliver on hands training with firearms and use of force explanations and how it relates to the law on par to the knowledge the Police receive.

By allowing law abiding citizens the tools they require and the laws to protect their defensive use of those tools it lowers the targets of opportunity for the criminal element. Even with a small saturation of the adult population concealed carrying firearms with or without permit depending on if the State required a permit to carry, the violent crime rate was 32 percent lower, and the murder rate was 33 percent lower in the states not requiring permits. This isn't to say that everyone would be allowed to lawfully conceal carry a firearm, for example felons are still barred from owning a firearm of any type or concealed carry of it. Not that the law stops a criminal from breaking it, by the very definition a criminal is someone that breaks the law and they would find access to the tools they require and carry them regardless of what the law abiding population is lawfully allowed to do.

No, we didn't seek out the 2014 statistics to slant our argument. In fact we should thank our detractors that couldn't argue the statistics that were provided and were forced to attack our use of year old information. It only forced us to research the topic again, this time with up to date 2015 statistical information, it has now given a contrast in information that has only further proven our original point.

So putting our findings from 2014 and 2015 in contrast it shows that not only is it a myth that Canada is more peaceful per capita than the US. It also shows that it is a myth that concealed carry firearms increase crime. On the contrary Canada has a higher violent crime rate per capita than the US, and it isn't improving. Concealed carry firearms also are proving to lower crime in areas where they are lawfully allowed with the proper laws to protect their use in self defense.

If concealed carry permits were shall issue to firearms license holders then it would stand to reason that the same statistical trends that are observed in the US would hold true in Canada. Licensed firearm owners in Canada are statistically less likely to commit any type of violent offence, which stands to reason that this wouldn't change if concealed carry were to become commonplace for law abiding firearm owners in Canada. If any statistic were to change it is that the attacker would become the statistic, rather than the victim. What is more likely however, is that if concealed carry were more readily available in Canada we would observe a near instant statistical reduction in violent crime. It's a simple fact, violent criminals don't want to get hurt while committing their crimes.

2015 Police reported crime statistics in Canada; http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14642-eng.htm

2015 FBI reported crime statistics in the US; https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2015-crime-statistics

Concealed carry statistics; http://crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-Report-from-the-Crime-Prevention-Research-Center-Final.pdf