Gun Control: Placing Costs in Context

Author: Boyd, Neil
Publication: Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice
Topics: Gun Carrying International Legislation and Policy Ownership Public Health
Keywords: Canada firearm gun registry
Bibliographic information +

The author considers the decrease in firearm deaths observed in Canada and its association with the Canadian gun registry effort. He suggests that the decrease reflects cultural change, and was not merely the effect of legislation, given the evidence of declining firearm ownership before its enactment. He evaluates the increased costs and uncertain benefits of national legislation and registration of firearms and concludes that the effort’s merits do not deserve its critics’ derision.