http://www.americandaily.com/article/1340
More Gun Control Isn't The Answer
By John R. Lott Jr. (06/17/2004)
*Co-authored by John Lott, Jr. and Eli Lehrer
Gun control has not worked in Canada. Since the new gun
registration program started in 1998, the U.S. homicide rate has
fallen, but the Canadian rate has increased. The net cost of
Canada's gun registry has surged beyond $1-billion -- more than
500 times the amount originally estimated.
Despite this, the Canadian government recently admitted it could
not identify a single violent crime that had been solved through
registration. Public confidence in the government's ability to
fight crime has also eroded, with one recent survey showing only
17% of voters support the registration program.
So, if this hasn't worked, what's the solution? The NDP, which
polls indicate may hold the balance of power in Parliament after
June 28, has proposed a radical solution: "going across the
border to the U.S. and actively engaging in lobbying to have gun
-control laws in the U.S. strengthened."
This is part of an ironic pattern: When gun control laws fail --
as they consistently do, whether in Canada, the United States or
other countries -- politicians seek to pass new laws rather than
eliminate the old ones. In the United States, gun -control groups
now claim that the 1994 Brady Act implementing background checks
and assault-weapon bans failed to reduce crime only because they
didn't go far enough; and that city bans on handguns in Chicago
and Washington, D.C., failed only because other jurisdictions
didn't follow suit.
The same logic applies overseas: With violent crime and gun crime
soaring in the United Kingdom, where handguns are already banned,
the British government is banning imitation guns. And in
Australia, state governments are banning ceremonial swords.
Yet, the laws in Australia, Britain and Canada were adopted under
what gun control advocates would argue were ideal conditions. All
three countries adopted laws that applied to the entire country.
Australia and Britain are surrounded by water, and thus do not
have the easy smuggling problem that Canada claims with regard to
the United States. The new attempts to ban toys or cast blame on
the United States, reek of desperation.
Crime did not fall in England after handguns were banned in 1997.
Quite the contrary, crime rose sharply. In May, the British
government reported that gun crime in England and Wales nearly
doubled in the last four years. Serious violent crime rates from
1997 to 2002 averaged 29% higher than 1996; robbery was 24%
higher; murders 27% higher. Before the law, armed robberies had
fallen by 50% from 1993 to 1997, but as soon as handguns were
banned, the armed robbery rate shot back up, almost back to their
1993 levels. The violent crime rate in England is now double that
in the United States.
Australia saw its violent crime rates soar after its 1996 gun
control measures banned most firearms. Violent crime rates
averaged 32% higher in the six years after the law was passed
than they did the year before the law went into effect. Murder
and manslaughter rates remained unchanged, but armed robbery
rates increased 74%, aggravated assaults by 32%. Australia's
violent crime rate is also now double America's. In contrast, the
United States took the opposite approach and made it easier for
individuals to carry guns. Thirty-seven of the 50 states now have
right-to-carry laws that let law-abiding adults carry concealed
handguns once they pass a criminal background check. Violent
crime in the United States has fallen much faster than in Canada,
and violent crime has fallen even faster inright-to-carry states
than for the nation as a whole. The states with the fastest
growth in gun ownership have also experienced the biggest drops
in violent crime rates.
It is understandable that Canadians are focusing on crime as the
election nears. Everyone wants to take guns away from criminals.
The problem is that law-abiding citizens obey the laws and
criminals don't. Even in the unlikely event that a Canadian
government were to convince the United States to ban guns, that
would provide no more of a magic solution to Canadian crime than
its own failed gun registry.
First published in the National Post (Canada)
--
Ms Liberty - United States of America
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. ˆ Thomas
Jefferson, part of proposed Virginia Constitution 1776.
50% of U.S. households own a gun but few people ever practice
with them. Your gun is not a lucky rabbit's foot that will bestow
protection on you, just by keeping it around. If you own one, you
have a moral obligation to yourself to learn safety, get training
and learn how to use it, then stay in practice so you don't
forget and get rusty. Take as much training as you can afford and
practice regularly. After all, you are the militia.
***
Det er på tide at vi i Danmark og Europa får vores naturlige ret til at
bevæbne os mod forbrydere (hvilket inkluderer staten!) igen.
Det er på tide med en "2nd Amendment" her i landets Grundlov.
--
regards, Peter Bjørn Perlsø -
http://haxor.dk
http://liberterran.org
http://haxor.dk/fanaticism/