Regina police report increase of firearm ‘violent occurrences’ in July

Regina police are having to deal with more guns.

According to July’s firearms report from the Regina Police Service, officers are seeing more incidents and seizing more guns.

Firearms Report July 2019 https://t.co/ByBy8zyyQN pic.twitter.com/l9gIWNtT7M

— Regina Police (@reginapolice) August 26, 2019

Twenty of what police call “violent occurrences” involving a gun were reported in July. Between January and July of this year, 108 instances were reported — a 17.4 per cent increase from the same period last year.

Recent shootings have many people in Regina concerned, like one mother after her son’s car was shot at while driving in the east end, and area residents after a string of drive-by shootings in one night in May.

Through the January-to-July period, 36 non-harmful firearms incidents were reported, which matches the total from the first seven months of 2018.

Although this year saw an increase in gun incidents, seizures of guns for this July dropped to 25 from 45 in the same month in 2018 — a decrease of 44.4 per cent.

Between January and July, 266 guns were seized by police. That’s higher than the five-year average of 233.

Police reported five people were victimized by gun violence in July, up from zero in July of 2018.

There were nine reports of stolen guns last month, up from one in July of 2018. The thefts last month included a number taken from a utility trailer in early July.