Important News from Down Under Facts of[no guns]

[R/T Performance]

Here's a thought to warm some of your hearts...

From: Ed Chenel, A police officer in Australia. Hi Yanks, I
thought
you all would like to see the real figures from Down Under. It has
now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by a
new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by
our own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than
$500 million dollars.

The first year results are now in: Australia-wide, homicides are
up
3.2 percent, Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent;
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria alone,
homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. (Note that
while
the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not!
and criminals still possess their guns!)

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease
in
armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in
the past 12 months, since the criminals now are guaranteed that
their prey is unarmed. There has also been a dramatic increase in
break-ins and assaults of the elderly.

Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety
has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended
in "successfully ridding Australian society of guns." You won't see
this on the American evening news or hear your governor or members
of the State Assembly disseminating this information.

The Australian experience proves it. Guns in the hands of honest
citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws affect
only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note Americans, before it's too late!

DON'T BE A MEMBER OF THE SILENT MAJORITY.
BE OF THE VOCAL MINORITY WHO WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN IN THE U.S.A

This was emailed to me everyone should see this

[[TASF]Overkill]

http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/ausguns.asp

I don't much like when either side uses misleading statistics.

(Of course, the Snopes article seems to have a SLIGHT anti leaning...)

[R/T Performance]

I like my guns and don't want to lose them.
Does make you wonder though

[[TASF]Maverick]

I looked all over the Australian government's website and it actually looks like firearm-related deaths are going down over there. Although the statistics seem to stop after 2001... which makes me a little curious.

It was also pointed out in the essay Overkill posted that Australians didn't exactly concealed carry either. They had firearms for sport and such, and were allowed to keep them. I don't see a citation on that part of the essay though so I don't know if it is true or not.

I wouldn't consider Australia much of a gangstah continent anyway, unless I keep watching Mission Impossible 2...

[whtvrsclvr]

when I lived there for 5 months in 2001, I got to talking about guns and violence with someone. She told me that they weren't even allowed to carry pepper spray for personal protection while out. THe most they could do was carry one of those personal alarm things. However, she told me that she never felt uncomfortable walking in the shadiest of neighborhoods, including the King's Cross section of Sydney, and I have to say neither did I nor anyone else I knew. And it was shady. But crime was low. Except in Aboriginal communities.