Crime Down Under

[powerstrk]

I scooped this out of a little gun store rag that I got in the mail, I thought I would pass it on.

"Since enacting gun-ban laws, crime is exploding in Australia as citizens are helpless to protect their homes. Police are baffled by the epidemic of brutal gang rapes at Sydney homes. Over in Britain, their well intentioned 1997 gun ban is having a strange effect: Handgun crime has soared 40%. Since neither country can figure out the cause, they are appealing to sociologists for answers. If any of you have a degree in sociology, perhaps you can help?"

This ain't rocket science folks:rolleyes:

[Seeker]

I've got a degree in Sociology and I am looking for work. I'd be glad to assist, where do I sign up?

[madmike]

That report is sadly inaccurate.

However, the crime rate HAS remained the same, which baffles the antis and makes their propaganda harder.

Reports like this come about by noting that a small town went from 7 to 10 crimes in a year. The baseline number is so low that any change will have a large effect. It's a preferred technique of the antis, but here we see someone using it for our side.

But it's still misleading.


| Hi guys
|
| Some recent statistics I've seen bandied around
| about the impact of gun control on crime in Oz
| aren't based on the real figures. So here they are.
| You can have a look at them yourself on:
http://www.aic.gov.au/research/hmonitor/stats/hvr.html
http://www.aic.gov.au/research/hmonitor/stats/type.html
|
| (Australian Institute of Crimology is the Australian
| Federal Government body that gathers data on crime)
|
| What they show is that following the handing in and
| melting-down of guns in Australia in 1997-98, the rate
| of homicide has been fairly stable. While it has not
| increased significantly, as advocated in those other
| statistics, it has not decreased as the Government
| expected it would when introduced. The following is
| my analysis of these statistics which I recently sent
| to some friends who are pro-gun control.
|
| Overall Australian homicide rates have been, in fact,
| flat for the last ten years. The Australian rate of
| homicide has gone from 1.9 people per 100,000 population
| in 1989/90 to 1.8 in 99/00. Looking more specifically at
| post-Port Arthur (early 1996) the rate has gone from 1.7
| in 1996/97 to 1.8 in 1999/00.
|
| It is also interesting to compare this stat to Australia's
| population to get a picture of the actual number of
homicides
| as distinct from the rate per 100,000 people. Australia's
| population in 1989 was 16,814,416, in 1996 it was
18,289,142
| and in 1999 it was 19,157,037 (ABS estimated resident
population).
|
| Based on these populations and the above homicide rates,
| the number of homicides in Australia has gone from 319
| in 1989/90 to 311 in 1996/97 to 345 in 1999/00.
|
| State by State between 1996/97 and 1999/00 since guns have
| been handed in, homicide rates in Qld, SA and NT have gone
| down, rates in Vic, WA, Tas and ACT have gone up and the
| rate in our fair State has remained static.
|
| Also worth a look is this part of the Crimology site:
| http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/facts/2000/sec3.html.
|
| This shows that rates of homicide from firearms have gone
| down from 28% of total homicides in 1989/90 to 20% in
1998/99.
| However, rates of homicide from other weapons have
increased
| dramatically, namely hands/feet (?!) and other means such
as
| poisoning, fire, carbon monoxide, etc.
|
| It is also interesting to note that "Knives and other
sharp
| instruments were the most common type of weapon used in
the
| commission of homicides." This has been the case for the
last
| decade (with the exception of the blip in favour of
firearms
| caused by Port Arthur in 1995/96).
|
| Also: "Between 1 July 1997 and 30 June 1999, nine in 10
| offenders of firearm-related homicide were unlicensed
| firearms owners or persons using a firearm unregistered
| to themselves."
|
| I understand that Martin Bryant (who shot 35 people dead
| at Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996) was within this
category,
| given that while he was licensed to have a firearm he
wasn't
| licensed to have all the weapons used.
|
| Given that we are still hearing of gun usage in thefts in
| Cabramatta, Sefton, Campsie etc... and shootings out front
| of pubs and dance clubs, I struggle to believe that
criminals
| who are unregistered handed over their guns happily when
asked
| nicely by the Government a few years back.
|
| I therefore do not find anything in these statistics that
| have convinced me that gathering in and melting firearms
at
| a cost of $500 million was anything more than a fine bit
of
| knee-jerk political populism. Why aren't we now targetting
| knife and other types of murders if we are really
concerned
| about reducing the number of people who get killed in Oz?
|
| While the gun lobby in the US have got their figures wrong
| on this one, I think it is also not helpful in this debate
| to adopt the "guns are bad, gun control is good. Why is
gun
| control good? Because guns are bad" stance prevalent in
| Australian mainstream middle-class society. It's also
inter-
| esting to think that in our relativist society, this is
| accepted as an absolute truth. (But that's another story -
| and I'm not gonna go there!)
|
| Love from down under,
|
| Mark.
|
| Mark Holland
| Senior Policy Adviser
| State Chamber of Commerce (NSW)
| Ph: (02) 9350 8148
| Fax:(02) 9350 8199