Gun violence and your vote

Opinion

Another young life was cut short by a bullet the other day, this time at a bus stop in Hamilton, Ont.

Harsimrat Kaur Randhawa, 21, an international student from India, died after being struck by a stray bullet while waiting for a ride home. Her story, devastating as it is, is not the first — and without increased action, it will not be the last.

While compared to the United States, Canada is much safer from gun violence, the fact is our country has the third-highest rate of firearm homicide among similar high-income countries. This rises to second-highest when comparing child and teen firearm mortality rates. Many fewer Canadians would die from gun injury each year — 700 — if our firearm death rate was the same as the United Kingdom.

Preventing gun violence demands our collective attention — especially now, on the cusp of an election. But let’s be honest, in the chaos of a political campaign, gun violence too often falls off the radar, dismissed as a niche issue or a problem confined to a few urban neighborhoods.

This framing is dangerous. It obscures the truth that firearm violence affects communities across the country. In addition to ignoring the human cost, it ignores the economic impacts. In B.C. alone, violent firearm crime cost the province nearly $300 million in 2016. In Montreal, each firearm homicide committed costs society $10 million.

The Canadian Medical Association recognizes firearms as a serious threat to public health, yet efforts to address firearm-related harm in Canada are at a crossroads. Measures introduced in recent years — including a ban on assault weapons, a national handgun freeze, expanded background checks, and red flag laws — represent big steps in the right direction, but they remain incomplete without broader structural investment.

We must recognize that firearm violence is not a single-issue problem — it is a complex, multifactorial epidemic influenced by poverty, mental health, unemployment, housing instability, and lack of access to education or crisis support.

Gun violence is a public health issue where we need solutions-based public health science.

Addressing it will require co-ordinated national strategies that prioritize community-based violence prevention, youth mentorship, accessible social services, trauma recovery programs, and yes, effective firearm regulation grounded in evidence.

It will also require better data collection and national reporting to understand where, how, and why violence occurs so we can intervene before the next tragedy unfolds.

This is not about politics.

This is about whether we as a country are willing to treat gun violence like the epidemic it is. That means pressing every candidate on what they plan to do — not in abstract terms, not with slogans, but with specificity and commitment.

It means asking the tough questions: Will you support federal funding for firearm injury prevention research? Will you invest in social determinants in the neighborhoods most affected? Will you build on, not reverse, the measures to restrict access to guns that have recently been put in place?

If parties will not commit to maintaining gun control policies — as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre refused to do when questioned by media last weekend — Canadians should be told why, and what those policies will be replaced with.

No one is immune from gun violence.

Not students walking home.

Not workers closing up for the night.

Not families living in quiet suburban neighborhoods.

Not older males living in rural communities — the most likely victim of firearm suicides. And certainly not the health-care providers who see the consequences in our trauma bays and operating rooms.

As Canadians prepare to cast their votes, they should think about Harsimrat and the countless others who did not make the headlines. We owe them more than thoughts and prayers. We owe them comprehensive, evidence-based action.

Gun violence in Canada is not someone else’s problem, it is ours.

It is time to put gun violence prevention on the ballot.

Dr. Chethan Sathya and Dr. Najma Ahmed are trauma surgeons and members of Canadian Doctors For Protection from Guns, a grassroots organization concerned about the increasing public health impact of firearms.