Triple Crossbow Homicide + Condolences to the families

Two days ago a "career criminal" named Brett Ryan, age 35, killed 3 of his own family members with a crossbow in a garage in Scarborough on August 25th 2016. Ryan had previously been in prison for committing a string of bank robberies, during which time he became known as "the fake beard bandit".

Right: Photo of Brett Ryan.

My condolences go out to the families of the victims of this heinous murders.

Crossbow murders are pretty rare. As a weapon they are ideally designed for hunting, as they normally only get off one good shot in a minute. As a murder weapon, they are slow to reload and seem like a rather archaic way of killing people. Akin to trying to kill someone with a front-loading musket.

Yesterday Global News contacted me asking for an interview and a demonstration of how to use a crossbow. I told them:

"I am not going to touch that topic with a 100 foot pole.

My condolences go out to the families."

As someone with my own family, and a strong advocate of crossbow safety, I am appalled by the fact someone would choose to use a crossbow to murder their family. Appalled, disgusted, and disheartened.

Canada has an amazingly low murder rate, with a homicide rate of 1.45 per 100,000 people. In 2014 there was 516 homicides in Canada. In contrast the global homicide rate is 7.6 per 100,000 people. In the USA the number is 4.5 homicides per 100,000 people.

Firearms are the most commonly used murder weapons in Canada. Between 2010 and 2014 there was an average of 159 firearm homicides in Canada. In contrast there was an average of 1.2 "firearm-like homicides" during the same 5 year period, which basically covers everything from crossbows, compound bows, homemade canons, harpoon gun, nail gun, etc.

So basically "firearm-like homicides" make up about 0.2% of all homicides in Canada. Crossbows, dramatically less than that. A triple homicide using a crossbow is a strange anomaly.

Canada's overall homicide rate has been on a steady decline since 1975, when it reached a height of 3.02 per 100,000 people. The homicide rate in the 1970s and 1980s was significantly higher due to the drug trade of the time period.

Statistical sources from Statistics Canada. These statistics ignore the Air India incident in 1985, which was an act of terrorism.

Basically what it comes down to is that crossbows are an extremely rare choice of murder weapon.

I am a strong believer in crossbow safety and following all the laws concerning the use of crossbows and compound bows. A career criminal like Brett Ryan gives crossbows a bad reputation, but they are not indicative of crossbows being inherently bad. They are a tool meant for hunting and recreational shooting. They are not meant to be used for evil and nefarious purposes.