@Olivier5,
Quote:So what have the Australian laws actually done for homicide and suicide rates? Howard cites a study (pdf) by Andrew Leigh of Australian National University and Christine Neill of Wilfrid Laurier University finding that the firearm homicide rate fell by 59 percent, and the firearm suicide rate fell by 65 percent, in the decade after the law was introduced, without a parallel increase in non-firearm homicides and suicides. That provides strong circumstantial evidence for the law's effectiveness.
How about the massive spike in both armed and unarmed robbery which followed the gun ban for the next five years?
What about the tragic loss of freedom?
Parados and I have periodically argued about the results of Australia's gun ban, leading to me looking up fresh stats and updating my records each time. I presume from the state of my records that our last argument about it was somewhere around 2010.
Anyway, check out the five-year-long robbery spree that accompanied their tragic loss of freedom:
Murder Rate (per 100,000 people)
1993: 1.7
1994: 1.6
1995: 1.8
1996: 1.7
1997: 1.7
1998: 1.5
1999: 1.8
2000: 1.7
2001: 1.6
2002: 1.6
2003: 1.5
2004: 1.3
2005: 1.3
2006: 1.4
2007: 1.2
2008: 1.2
2009: 1.2
Manslaughter Rate (per 100,000 people)
1993: 0.2
1994: 0.2
1995: 0.2
1996: 0.2
1997: 0.2
1998: 0.3
1999: 0.2
2000: 0.2
2001: 0.2
2002: 0.2
2003: 0.2
2004: 0.2
2005: 0.2
2006: 0.2
2007: 0.1
2008: 0.1
2009: 0.1
Armed Robbery Rate (per 100,000 people)
1993: 30.0
1994: 28.3
1995: 29.1
1996: 34.2
1997: 48.9
1998: 58.0
1999: 49.9
2000: 49.5
2001: 57.9
2002: 39.9
2003: 36.1
2004: 30.0
2005:
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
Unarmed Robbery Rate (per 100,000 people)
1993: 42.3
1994: 50.0
1995: 51.5
1996: 55.3
1997: 66.1
1998: 69.2
1999: 69.5
2000: 72.3
2001: 79.1
2002: 66.9
2003: 62.9
2004: 52.1
2005:
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
Total Robbery Rate (per 100,000 people)
1993: 72.3
1994: 78.2
1995: 80.6
1996: 89.4
1997: 115.0
1998: 127.2
1999: 119.5
2000: 121.9
2001: 137.0
2002: 106.8
2003: 99.1
2004: 82.1
2005:
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
(They changed the definition of what counts as robbery after 2004, so data from subsequent years is not compatible.)