Gun Control

How many people have you needed to shoot so far?

Well, that shuts that avenue down quite nicely.

OK then, the vast difference between the number of gun deaths per 100 000 in Australia v USA...do you think that's Mexico's fault?

By all means

You ain't gonna weigh in ... ?

Well, that shuts that avenue down quite nicely.

OK then, the vast difference between the number of gun deaths per 100 000 in Australia v USA...do you think that's Mexico's fault?

Gun deaths halved in past 10 years
By Shane Wright
January 3, 2004



Guns killed more than 5000 people in Australia in the past decade. Nine out of 10 of the victims were male and most of them killed themselves.

The number of deaths caused by firearms dropped almost 50 per cent between 1991 and 2001, with the biggest yearly fall in deaths coming after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

A report by the Australian Institute of Criminology released yesterday found that the number of deaths caused by guns each year dropped to 333 in 2001 from 629 in 1991.

The biggest single form of firearm death was suicide, accounting for 3930 fatalities out of a total of 5083 studied. The number fell from 505 in 1991 to 261 in 2001.

Men were the victims of 4586 firearm deaths, women were victims of 497 - 261 of which were recorded as homicide.

Homicides dropped to 47 in 2001 from 84 in 1991, accidental deaths dropped to 18 from 29, while other forms of firearm deaths slipped to seven from 11.

The biggest drop in deaths followed Port Arthur, when Martin Bryant murdered 35 people with a military-style weapon.

After the massacre, tough gun laws were enacted across Australia, specifically targeting military-style weapons, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of weapons being destroyed.

In 1996, 521 people died from gun-inflicted wounds, while in 1997 this dropped to 437.

State and federal governments agreed in late 2002 on new laws aimed at restricting access to handguns. Last July import controls were increased.

Hunting rifles consistently accounted for the largest number of deaths, followed by shotguns, while the use of handguns has increased. The number of times a hunting rifle was implicated in a death dropped to 76 in 2001 from 282 in 1991. Shotgun deaths dropped from 133 to 54 but handgun deaths increased from 29 in 1991 to 49 in 2001.

I don't believe they had our equivilant to the 2nd Amendment, do or did they?

From my experience on A2K the Aussies lack more than just a concept of a 2nd amendment...

IMO every person should be taught gun safety in school, rather than the ridiculous liberal mantra that guns are bad.

If guns kill people, where are mine hiding all the bodies?

cjhsa wrote:

From my experience on A2K the Aussies lack more than just a concept of a 2nd amendment...

IMO every person should be taught gun safety in school, rather than the ridiculous liberal mantra that guns are bad.

If guns kill people, where are mine hiding all the bodies?

We know exactly what the second amendment means. We also know that it's a throwback to war of independence days. You still possess a national paranoia that the "British are coming", and that you need to protect yourself. Since Australia gained it's indepedence through peaceful means, we're a not a nation borne out of anger, and hence don't see the need for every idiot to be granted the right to carry a weapon. Some of the people I've seen chanting the gun mantra on these forums, are so disturbed that they shouldn't be allowed in the same state as a gun.

You was with soldiers who wanted the right to carry guns? Doi doi doi. What a huge friggin surprise. Now there's a balanced cross section of the Australian community. Glad to see your research has been so thorough.