Orange County Register
Letters to the Editor Section 8/4/99:
It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced
to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed, a program costing
the government more than $500 million dollars.And now the results are in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent;
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent;
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent).
In the state of Victoria, homicides with firearms are up 300 percent.
Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed
robbery with firearms (changed drastically in the past 12 months).
There has been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly.
Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after such monumental effort and expense was successfully expended in "ridding society of guns." Bet you won't see this data on the evening news or hear your governor or members of the state Assembly disseminating this information. It's time to state it plainly: Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws are only obeyed by law-abiding citizens. Whereas criminals by definition do not obey the law, gun laws or otherwise.
Take note, Californians and other Americans, before it's too late!