>------------------------------
>It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new
>law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own
>government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million
>dollars. The first year results are now in:
>
>List of 7 items:
>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 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 The Australian experience
>and the other historical facts above prove it.
>
>
>*****************************************************************************
>Ok, now some stats:
>
>
http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/ausguns.aspI'm just responding to highlight the Snopes piece about the Australian statistics because it makes it quite clear that at least this part is full of it.
Tamar
