Australian gun control law results in dramatic drop in gun crimes

[Lefty48197]

This would pretty much go without saying, except that the NRA and their nut supporters are always trying to claim that after Australia cracked down on private gun ownership, their crime rates went UP. I wouldn't be shocked if somebody even posted that in this forum. Here's a link to the truth, courtesy of our friends at the Brady Campaign.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/factsheets/?page=aust

"Has anything changed in Australia since the new laws went into effect? Between 1987 and 1996, 100 Australians were killed in mass killings of four or more people. Since the new laws went into effect, there has not been a single massacre. Moreover, in Australia, homicides committed with firearms have been declining - slowly before the Port Arthur Massacre, more sharply since - from 28 percent of all homicides in 1989-90 to 16 percent in 2001.<4> While the 1996 gun laws did not initiate the decline in firearm homicides, they appear to have accelerated it.

Along with the declining use of firearms in homicide, Australia has seen a decline in the use of firearms in armed robberies. From 1993 to 2001, the proportion of robberies committed with a firearm dropped from 16 to 6 percent.<5>

Suicide rates using a firearm show a sharp drop from 1979-98 with rates continuing to drop after 1996 <6> and firearm-related accidental injuries in Australia are also declining.<7> Public health experts see these declines as related to tighter controls over who may obtain a gun, stricter requirements for training and safe storage, and longer waiting periods for obtaining gun licenses."