Do Gun control laws drop crime??

Being Australian, owning a gun is not very common. Sure your Farmers out here will own a couple of rifles, but handguns or semi-auto's are very very rare unless your in a pistol club or are a member of Police or security forces.

Consequently our instances of shootings are comparitively low compared to other countries..

My question for members of the board is Do Gun control laws drop crime??

Many studies have argued both ways but for example to compare the States' with their Northerly Niehbours..

This is underscored by comparisons of the United States and Canada. The costs of firearms death and injury in the two countries have been compared and estimated to be $495 (US) per resident in the United States compared to $195 per resident in Canada. Canada has always had stronger firearms regulation than the United States, particularly with respect to handguns. As a result, Canada has roughly 1 million handguns while the United States has more than 77 million. While there are other factors affecting murder, suicide and unintentional injury rates, a comparison of data in Canada and the United States suggests that access to handguns may play a role. While the murder rate without guns in the US is roughly equivalent (1.3 times) that of Canada, the murder rate with handguns is 15 times the Canadian rate

www.guncontrol.ca...

Also

Seven years ago Badger Outdoors, a gun shop in West Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stopped selling $70 handguns, known as "Saturday night specials", after a government study revealed it was the nation's leading supplier of guns that were later recovered from criminals. Now, follow-up research shows that the move singlehandedly reduced the supply of new guns to criminals in the city by 44 per cent.

www.newscientisttech.com...

What say members of the board? For me this is a no-brainer, Less instraments of Death = Less death.

Surely with the spate of horrible shootings Internationally, Gun controll has got to be a good idea.

UK experience suggests increased control doesn't reduce gun crime.

There are controls on which guns we can have legally in the UK, no semi-auto's (apart from .22), 3 shot max on shotguns, no handguns apart from long-barrelled ones (although a few allowed for humane despatch of deer). These restrictions have been brought in gradually after a few well-publicised incidents of armed rampage. For firearms you need a reason to own one, background checks etc

Gun crime, meanwhile, has soared. Cheap guns are available from the continent (particularly ex-Eastern Bloc countries) as well as conversions of deactivated weapons and some air pistols. Criminals now often carry guns and gun crime is unfortunately fairly common nowadays in the UK.

The criminals, being those not bothered about the law, have not been affected at all by the restrictions. Legitimate shooters have been greatly affected.

So no it doesn't work: but it makes good headlines and shows the Government is doing 'something'

If the US Government tried to outlaw fire arms, it would be just like prohibition all over again. Just with firearms, not booze, which is worse?

i live in washington dc. handgun laws here are very tight, yet almost everyday illegal firearms flow into the city, and into the poorest neighborhoods. on average, i'd have to say at least one person a day here dies from gunshot wounds. gun control laws here are useless.

Originally posted by karby
i live in washington dc. handgun laws here are very tight, yet almost everyday illegal firearms flow into the city, and into the poorest neighborhoods. on average, i'd have to say at least one person a day here dies from gunshot wounds. gun control laws here are useless.

I have some family in DC also. I've heard several times that they actually feel less safe with the tight gun control laws there, because where at least handguns are legal the criminals aren't sure if whilst I'm walking home alone at night whether or not I have a gun. Like it's been said, the criminals don't care if they're illegal, but a criminal can be reasonably sure that well-dressed lady or gentleman is very very unlikely of carrying a weapon they are not allowed to be carrying.

Well, I think it depends on the culture, and the size of the country.

I personally believe in the second ammendment right.

I mean it's really like the old saying; "If you outlaw catapults,
only outlaws will have catapults.", which basically means that if
you make guns illegal, than the only non-governmental/military
bodies with guns will be criminals.

I'd much rather live in a society without gun control.