Table 3
Police-reported mass casualty events and violent crime, by most serious weapon present, Canada, 2010 to 2024

Table 3
Police-reported mass casualty events and violent crime, by most serious weapon present, Canada, 2010 to 2024 Table summary
The information is grouped by Most serious weapon present (appearing as row headers), Mass casualty events, Violent crime4, Total, Level 11, Level 22 and Level 33, calculated using number, percent, number, percent, number, percent, number, percent, number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Most serious weapon present Mass casualty events Violent crime Table 3 Note 4
Total Level 1 Table 3 Note 1 Level 2 Table 3 Note 2 Level 3 Table 3 Note 3
number percent number percent number percent number percent number percent
Note ...

not applicable

Note 0

true zero or a value rounded to zero

Note x

suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act

Note 1

Includes violent incidents where four or more victims sustained minor physical injury.

Return to note 1 referrer

Note 2

Includes violent incidents where four or more victims sustained physical injury and one to three victims sustained major physical injury or died.

Return to note 2 referrer

Note 3

Includes violent incidents where four or more victims sustained major physical injury or died.

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4

Includes mass casualty events. To allow for comparison with mass casualty events, incidents of violent crime are limited to those with victim records.

Return to note 4 referrer

Note 5

Includes physical force and threats.

Return to note 5 referrer

Note 6

Includes ropes or strangulation, burning liquids or caustic agents and other weapons.

Return to note 6 referrer

Note: Mass casualty events refer to violent incidents where four or more victims sustained physical injury or died. For information about level of injury, see Text box 1. Excludes criminal negligence causing bodily harm or death. Weapon present includes anything used or intended for use in causing or threatening death or injury to persons during the commission of a criminal offence. In Quebec, the information management system used by the majority of police services produces a relatively high proportion of unknown values for the variable “most serious weapon present.” Although incidents of firearm-related crime are likely recorded correctly for the vast majority of cases, undercounting remains possible. Due to data quality concerns, weapon analysis excludes data from the province of Quebec unless the most serious weapon present was a firearm, and data from the Québec City Police Service are also excluded regardless of the most serious weapon present. Percent calculations exclude unknown. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. Based on the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Trend Database, which, as of 2009, includes data for 99% of the population in Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (Trend Database).
No weapon present Table 3 Note 5 1,711 35.6 1,576 39.0 132 21.7 3 1.9 3,154,283 79.9
Weapon present 3,101 64.4 2,468 61.0 476 78.3 157 98.1 793,004 20.1
Firearm 397 8.3 240 5.9 86 14.1 71 44.4 100,352 2.5
Fully automatic firearm 10 0.2 x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act 5 0.8 x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act 1,944 0.0
Sawed-off rifle or shotgun 25 0.5 x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act 11 1.8 x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act 3,810 0.1
Handgun 195 4.1 100 2.5 44 7.2 51 31.9 56,148 1.4
Rifle or shotgun 68 1.4 43 1.1 16 2.6 9 5.6 15,705 0.4
Firearm-like weapon or firearm type unknown 99 2.1 84 2.1 10 1.6 5 3.1 22,745 0.6
Knife or other piercing, cutting instrument 616 12.8 360 8.9 203 33.4 53 33.1 244,412 6.2
Club, blunt instrument 286 5.9 203 5.0 76 12.5 7 4.4 93,457 2.4
Explosive or fire 46 1.0 26 0.6 10 1.6 10 6.3 4,237 0.1
Motor vehicle 52 1.1 34 0.8 13 2.1 5 3.1 13,441 0.3
Other weapon Table 3 Note 6 1,704 35.4 1,605 39.7 88 14.5 11 6.9 337,105 8.5
Unknown 57 ... not applicable 54 ... not applicable 3 ... not applicable 0 ... not applicable 134,846 ... not applicable
Total 4,869 100.0 4,098 100.0 611 100.0 160 100.0 4,082,133 100.0
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