: : *I don't think I'm well versed enough with the relevant statistics to really weigh into this debate at present.: I doint think one can be, given the plethora of stats, date ranges, theories etc surrounding crime - but one can find data suggesting a rose in the last year.
: : *The new gun restrictions, far from "banning guns", were only concerned with eliminating 'military style' assault weapons. It is still possible for Mr. Goodcitizen to own and, I assume, use a hand-gun or a shot-gun or any number of the other more friendly varieties of fire arms - never-the-less, effective at stopping an armed intruder.
: Can you link to that? Got the impression that so called 'assualt weapons' (makes em sound bad see) included allsorts of guns which were just automatics and so on. Also that owning one is subject to various checks, red tape and general obstructions.
Don: Semiautomatic rifles were banned, as were semiautomatic and pump shotguns. Handguns were already strictly controlled.
: : *Statistics are pointless when debating this issue. I'm sure that with a little effort on my part I could find some very convincing statistics proving that gus are in fact evil. I would be interested in looking at the percentage of fire arms offences committed with the newly illegal weapons for example.
: That would be a good statistic. The point however is this ; now that people in general are more restricted in their ability to own the means to self defence and criminals are not (by definition they dont follow the rules) do they act more 'confidently' in attacking poeple because they believe people wont own guns. I've read anecdotal statements by cons who spoke of preferring unarmed people (unsurprisingly) and of acknowledging that a disarmed populace would make it easier from them - but thats just opinion from a crim. Scary, but just opinion.
: : Also, percentages are a little dodgy if you're talking about Australia. The population is quite small and we have a fairly low crime rate to begin with.
: I know what you mean - small change in volume = big change in percentage, fair enough.
Don: Homicides had been dropping for years before the ban. They have been increasing since the ban. If the purpose of the ban was to reduce crime, it failed.
None.
