Today I was having a bit of a read of the GCA website, (It’s always good for a laugh, the content and the poor spelling and punctuation) when I found this little gem.
A RISE IN GUN OWNERSHIP
The estimated total number of guns (both licit and illicit) held by civilians in Australia is 3.2 million. There are now as many guns in private hands in Australia as there was at the time of the Port Arthur massacre -
There are reportedly 172,422 handguns in civilian possession in Australia
In a comparison of the number of privately owned guns in 178 countries, Australia ranked at No. 25
Total number of gun deaths: In 2012 there were 226 deaths compared to an average of 600 deaths per year for the pre Port Arthur period to 1979
https://www.guncontrolaustralia.org/a_rise_in_gun_ownership
The above says that there are now as many guns in private hands as there were pre-Port Arthur, yet despite that firearm deaths have reduced by two thirds.
The year before there was only 181 firearms related deaths of which 135 were suicide. 14 were criminal assaults and 4 were by the police. The remaining 28 were essentially accidents.
Based on the above statistics you could assume the ratio of criminal violence to suicide would be essentially the same for 2012.
GCA have proved that privately owned guns are not a significant public safety risk!
Thanks GCA…
Even with over 3000 guns a year being stolen https://www.guncontrolaustralia.org/gun_theft the public is safer now than it has ever been.
