After Australian lawmakers passed widespread gun bans, owners were forced to surrender about 650,000 weapons, which were later slated for destruction, according to statistics from the Australian Sporting Shooters Association.
The bans were not limited to so-called assault weapons or military-type firearms, but also 22-caliber rifles and shotguns. The effort cost the Australian government about $500 million, according to an association representative.
Though lawmakers responsible for passing the ban promised a safer country, the nation's crime statistics tell a different story:
* Countrywide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
* Assaults are up 8.6 percent.
* Amazingly, armed robberies have climbed nearly 45 percent.
* In the Australian state of Victoria, gun homicides have climbed 300 percent.
* In the 25 years before the gun ban, crime in Australia had been dropping steadily.
* There has been a reported dramatic increase in home burglaries and assaults on the elderly.
See www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php? Article_ID=17847.
Gerhard Opel
Pukalani
