# Twenty three murders in Montreal in 2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 31, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946 "2016-12-31T01:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/1 "2016-12-31T01:43:47Z")
Item in this mornings paper. Lowest total since they combined all the island’s police forces in 1972 and they started keeping island-wide records like this. Average for the past decade is 34. About 2/3 resulted in arrests. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/2 "2016-12-31T02:23:41Z")
Contrast with Chicago at almost 800 for the year. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/3 "2016-12-31T16:40:34Z")
OK, I am embarrassed and gratified to learn that Montréal is (or is on) an island. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/4 "2016-12-31T20:45:54Z")
Montreal is closer in size to Philadelphia, which has had 277 homicides this year. I think the problem in the U.S. is lack of guns. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/5 "2016-12-31T21:36:44Z")
So…what _kind_ of murders did they have in Montreal? That’s almost twice as many as in my entire state (but I bet New Hampshire as a whole has fewer people than Montreal) on an average year, and oddly, even though NH has a lot of guns, half of our murders are typically stabbings. I was actually surprised to hear we have a cold case squad given an article from 3 days ago said that there are only 2 unsolved 2016 murders in the whole state. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/6 "2016-12-31T22:33:50Z")
How many non-gun murders in Chicago? More than 23, I’ll bet. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/7 "2017-01-01T00:21:47Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > How many non-gun murders in Chicago? More than 23, I’ll bet. You can’t assume all Montreal murders are non-firearm-involved. Shotguns and rifles are generally legal and relatively easy to get, though Quebec–unlike the other provinces–still requires registration of all guns. Ownership of handguns is legally restricted but quite a few criminals have them illegally. In the Montreal metro area, around 40% of homicides involve firearms. ([cite](http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2014001/article/11925/tbl/tbl07-eng.htm)). Of the firearm-related homicides in Canada, 62% involved handguns ([cite](http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2014001/article/11925-eng.htm#a5)) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/8 "2017-01-01T04:07:35Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > OK, I am embarrassed and gratified to learn that Montréal is (or is on) an island. Just for the record, there is a city of Montreal, a Montreal Urban community, that encompasses most, although not all (not mine, for example) of the municipalities on the island, and an island of Montreal, including all the municipalities and some unincorporated areas. There is a second island, Ile Jesus, just north of Montreal, and separated from it by a small river. So altogether three rivers, one the St. Laurence. I don’t know how many of the 23 were by gun. Probably the majority. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/9 "2017-01-01T04:39:45Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > OK, I am embarrassed and gratified to learn that Montréal is (or is on) an island. Montreal Island is the most populous island in the world surrounded by fresh water. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-three-murders-in-montreal-in-2016/775946/10 "2017-01-02T01:45:53Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Montreal Island is the most populous island in the world surrounded by fresh water. What would be #2?