Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Florida girl, 7, dies after accidentally shot by her father [View all]gejohnston
(17,502 posts)Hemenway is a shill whose department is funded by the same people who astro turf Brady Campaign. Also, none of his studies are verified by independent researchers.
The NYT op ed missed some important information. First, Australia has no federal gun control laws, each state does. Before the National Firearms Agreement, each state was a patchwork but all of them had licensing, including Tasmania where the shooting took place, and some had registration. The shooter did not have a license (which he wouldn't qualify for given his low IQ and history of violence) meaning he obtained them illegally. One of the weapons was stolen from a police evidence room. The murder rate started dropping before the NFA, and continued the same rate. Among other things, the NFA made the state laws more uniform. Also, there have been mass murders since then. Most of them by arson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_mass_murders
How effective was it reallY?
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1736501,00.html
Do criminals use legal guns?
No, biker gangs make their own machine guns and sell them. Also, there is a problem with smuggling.
http://soundmoneysa.co.za/2013/05/australia-invaded-by-a-smuggled-automatic-weapons-after-gun-ban/
you know what else that op ed forgot to mention? Many of those registered guns confiscated from licensed gun owners did not make it to the furnace. In fact, many were sold on the black market by greedy contractors and cops.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/buyback-guns-in-hands-of-outlaws/2007/02/09/1170524303919.html
http://www.ssaa.org.au/research/1997/1997-12_the-great-australian-gun-buyback.html
BTW, legal gun ownership rate is the same if not higher than before the NFA and the number of legally owned guns are about the same.