OPINION: A Nation Gone Gun Crazy: Young Children Shooting Machine Guns

By Freedom States Alliance , Working to Prevent Gun Violence - December 08, 2008

Comments(3) | (0)
We are a nation that is out of step with other industrialized countries when it comes to the issue of kids and guns. While most nations recognize that absolutely no good can come of exposing children to guns at a young age, we live in a gun culture that promotes romantic notions of generations of families hunting and shooting together. In light of the recent tragic death of an 8-year-old boy, Christopher Bizilj, who unintentionally killed himself while shooting an Uzi at the Westfield ... Read the Full Article
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Too Easy
  • Pottering
    Shooting you down in flames is what's "too easy"

    You reckon every other form of violent crime is up in Australia, but the article you linked MISTAKENLY harps on about Australia's burglary rate. Sadly for you and the article author burglary is NOT classified as a violent crime, never has been. I'll explain it for you. Burglary is entering premises and stealing without coming into contact with another person. If there is contact it becomes robbery and armed robbery if weapons are involved. And guess what? Armed robbery in Australia is down since 1996. As for burglary the Australian Bureau of Statistics says "There was an overall decline in the number of UEWI offences between 1995 and 2006." UEWI is Unlawful Entry With Intent and includes burglary, break and enter, and some stealing.

    The article you linked is dated March 2, 2001 and repeats a list of measures for Australia that actually relates to 1997, when the gun buyback was still actually occurring. In other words the data is 12 YEARS OLD and covers a period before the gun buyback could have any chance of real impact. It's includes such gems as "In the Australian state of Victoria, gun homicides have climbed 300 percent. " PROBLEM is that was an increase in year from 6 gun homicides to 18 and promptly fell back to 6 the following year, and that was 12 years ago!

    My advice to you is NOT rely on recycled garbage to make an argument. If you do you'll be exposed as you were here as someone who puts ideology ahead of facts.

    - PotteringAU February 17, 2009 4:51AM

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    • RedFish
      A little more recent, still too easy.

      AAP General News (Australia)
      08-17-2004
      Vic: Victorian crime rate drops but murder, rape rise

      By Nick Lenaghan and Karen Hart

      MELBOURNE, Aug 17 AAP - Victoria was Australia's safest state despite rising rates of murder and rape, police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said today.

      The state's overall crime rate for 2003-04 fell 7.3 per cent - the lowest in a decade - while murders went up by nine per cent and rapes by 11 per cent, according to police crime figures released today.

      Good overall, unless you were murdered or raped. Think a handgun could of stopped a rape or two? But then you would have counted a woman defending herself with a gun as a homicide. Better off to be raped I guess.

      And this in Australia's "safest state."

      -RedFish

      - RedFishUS February 18, 2009 7:01AM

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      • Pottering
        Still too easy? You couldn't get it right first time!

        You obviously have an aversion to the latest available data don't you? First it was 12 year old data, but when that was exposed you switched to 5 year old data.

        At least you recognise a good overall result when it is before your eyes, a 7.3% decline.

        You ask "a handgun could of stopped a rape or two? ", but answer me this. Of the 291,000 rape/attempted rape/sexual assaults in the US in 2005 what per cent of victims attacked or threatened the offender with a weapon (according to DOJ Criminal Victimization in the United States tables)? No, don't bother answering, I'll tell you; 0.0%!

        So YOU reckon that despite a country with much more liberal gun laws than Australia reporting 0.0% of weapon defense against rape/attempted rape/sexual assault, in Australia we might have benefited if guns had been involved! Pull the other one.

        Here's a possibly more telling stat; in those 291,000 rape/attempted rape/sexual assaults firearms were used by the perpetrators in 6.5% of incidents.

        0.0% using guns as defense against rape/attempted rape/sexual assault, but 6.5% using them to commit rape/attempted rape/sexual assault (according to DOJ). It seems pretty clear the role guns play in rape in the US, it's all one way traffic! In Australia they play essentially no part, and never have. I'm not that keen we emulate your performance.

        - PotteringAU February 19, 2009 5:43AM

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