The Success of the Australian Assault Weapons Ban

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard:

In the end, we won the battle to change gun laws because there was majority support across Australia for banning certain weapons. And today, there is a wide consensus that our 1996 reforms not only reduced the gun-related homicide rate, but also the suicide rate. The Australian Institute of Criminology found that gun-related murders and suicides fell sharply after 1996. The American Law and Economics Review found that our gun buyback scheme cut firearm suicides by 74 percent. In the 18 years before the 1996 reforms, Australia suffered 13 gun massacres — each with more than four victims — causing a total of 102 deaths. There has not been a single massacre in that category since 1996.

The other thing about the success of Australia’s gun laws is that studies have shown there was no offsetting increase in other forms of homicide. More guns, more killing, that’s what the data shows. President Obama isn’t pushing for anything more than restrictions supported by Ronald Reagan. Reagan.

★ Friday, 18 January 2013