Anti-gun control groups and some U.S. law enforcement officials are questioning the validity of a study that says the Canadian city of Vancouver is safer than Seattle because of gun control laws. A study to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that the number of handgun deaths in Vancouver, British Columbia, 120 miles to the north, between 1980 and 1986 was nearly one-fifth that of Seattle. Dr. John Henry Sloan, chief investigator for the study, said 388 homicides occurred in Seattle during the study period, while 204 occurred in Vancouver. The number of gun-related deaths in Seattle was 139, compared with 25 for Vancouver, he said. Sloan, 34, a researcher at the Injury Prevention Research Center at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, stopped short Tuesday of saying his findings prove Seattle's laxer handgun control laws cause more deaths, but said ``it virtually explains it.'' Gun control activists were quick to seize the opportunity. ``I think that the study clearly puts to rest the notion strong handgun control laws don't have an effect on levels of crime,'' said Susan Whitmore, spokeswoman for Washington, D.C.,-based Handgun Control Inc. John Hosford, executive director of the Seattle-based Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, dismissed the study as a political ploy to help a gun control initiative on Maryland's ballot. ``It's not new research,'' Hosford said. ``I don't think the study is valid, since it doesn't take into account the cause and effect of many issues.'' And Dr. Paul Blackman, spokesman for the National Rifle Association in Washington, D.C., criticized the study for not looking at the period before Vancouver's new gun control laws went into effect in 1978. Sloan said Vancouver's laws were made stricter in 1978, but didn't change significantly. In Seattle, handguns may legally be purchased for self defense. After a 30-day waiting period, a permit can be obtained to carry a handgun as a concealed weapon. Recreational uses are minimally restricted. In Vancouver, self-defense is not considered a legal reason to purchase a handgun. Concealed weapons are not permitted and recreational use of handguns such as target shooting and collecting are regulated by the province. The weapons may only be fired at a licensed shooting club. In addition, criminal offenses carry stricter penalties than in the United States, said Vancouver police Sgt. Robert Law. Hosford said that what Seattle needs is not more gun control laws, but stricter penalties for people convicted of crimes involving guns. Jim Deschane, commander of the Seattle police West Precinct, said he believes the process of allowing people to carry handguns in the city is ``far too lax'' because police can't check applicants' medical records. Dr. Stanley Abrams, a forensic psychologist who has been involved in investigations of serial murders in Portland, Ore., said easy availablity of guns can cause more deaths, because it is psychologically more difficult for someone to use a knife to kill than to just shoot a gun. ``People who use knives have to be more destructive _ it's definitely more difficult to kill with a knife,'' Abrams said. And since only 5 percent of murders are planned, a person carrying a gun makes it that much more likely a murder will occur, Abrams said.
A study by the New England Journal of Medicine shows that Vancouver is safer than Seattle because of its strict gun laws. 30 day there were 139 gun deaths in Vancouver , 25 in Vancouver . In Seattle handguns may be purchased for self-defense, and after a 30 day wait carried as a concealed weapon. In Vancouver , a person may not purchase a gun for self-defense or carry a concealed weapon. Guns can only be fired at licensed shooting clubs. Gun organizations, the NRA and Citizens' Committee for the Right to Keep and NRA dispute the conclusions and advocate stricter penalties.