Another Gun Control Failure

A recent study entitled “Gun Laws and Sudden Death: Did the Australian Firearms Legislation of 1996 Make a Difference?” published in the British Journal of Criminology examines the history of gun control laws enacted in Australia. These laws include a complete ban on pump action shotguns, semi-automatic shotguns, and semi-automatic rifles. Australia also implemented a massive government sponsored Gun Buyback Program. That program has spent $500 million collecting 640,000 arbitrarily banned firearms.

The authors cited data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) to reach their conclusions that the gun law reforms have had no effect whatsoever on murder or suicide rates when a firearm is used. It is true that those rates have declined, but there was an established historical decline occurring before these laws were passed. They did nothing to increase the rate of that decline and have been expensively ineffective.

"Reducing the number of legally held firearms, banning certain firearms, and increasing the requirements that must be met to legally own firearms has not produced the desired outcome of a safer society," one author said.

Both authors have publicly stated that they belong to pro-gun organizations. They made this disclosure in order to preempt any undue criticism that this fact may bring. Being open about their affiliations is not the only thing that lends credibility to their findings. All research has been rigorously scrutinized by peer review and no fault can be found. It is important to note that many anti-gun colleagues likely participated in that peer review.

As responsible gun owners, we need to educate policy makers and the public at large as to what has worked and what has not in reducing violent crime. We need to share these findings concerning Australia’s Gun Buyback Program. We need to remind people that the United Kingdom saw a 40% increase in armed violence after they enacted their firearm bans. The answers are not easy when it comes to controlling deranged murderers. However, historical evidence has proven one thing again and again: Gun Control Does Not Work! It only succeeds in leaving you defenseless against those already pre-disposed to break the law.

Originally published here.