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| Release Date: November
27, 2003 |
Vancouver, BC - Restrictive
firearm legislation has failed to reduce gun violence in Australia,
Canada, or Great Britain. The policy of confiscating guns has
been an expensive failure, according to a new paper The
Failed Experiment: Gun Control and Public Safety in Canada, Australia,
England and Wales, released today by The Fraser Institute.
“What makes gun control so compelling for many is the belief
that violent crime is driven by the availability of guns, and more
importantly, that criminal violence in general may be reduced by
limiting access to firearms,” says Gary Mauser, author of
the paper and professor of business at Simon Fraser University.
This new study examines crime trends in Commonwealth countries
that have recently introduced firearm regulations. Mauser notes
that the widely ignored key to evaluating firearm regulations
is to examine trends in total violent crime, not just firearm
crime.
The United States provides a valuable point of comparison for
assessing crime rates as that country has witnessed a dramatic
drop in criminal violence over the past decade – for
example, the homicide rate in the US has fallen 42 percent
since 1991. This is particularly significant when compared
with the rest of the world – in 18 of the 25 countries
surveyed by the British Home Office, violent crime increased
during the 1990s.
The justice system in the U.S. differs in many ways from those
in the Commonwealth but perhaps the most striking difference
is that qualified citizens in the United States can carry concealed
handguns for self-defence. During the past few decades, more
than 25 states in the U.S. have passed laws allowing responsible
citizens to carry concealed handguns. In 2003, there are 35
states where citizens can get such a permit.
Disarming the public has not reduced criminal violence in any
country examined in this study. In all these cases, disarming
the public has been ineffective, expensive, and often counter
productive. In all cases, the effort meant setting up expensive
bureaucracies that produce no noticeable improvement to public
safety or have made the situation worse. Mauser points to these
trends in the countries he examined:
England and Wales
Both Conservative and Labour governments have introduced restrictive
firearms laws over the past 20 years; all handguns were banned
in 1997.
Yet in the 1990s alone, the homicide rate jumped 50 percent,
going from 10 per million in 1990 to 15 per million in 2000.
While not yet as high as the US, in 2002 gun crime in England
and Wales increased by 35 percent. This is the fourth consecutive
year that gun crime has increased.
Police statistics show that violent crime in general has increased
since the late 1980s and since 1996 has been more serious than
in the United States.
Australia
The Australian government made sweeping changes to the firearms
legislation in 1997. However, the total homicide rate, after
having remained basically flat from 1995 to 2001, has now begun
climbing again. While violent crime is decreasing in the United
States, it is increasing in Australia. Over the past six years,
the overall rate of violent crime in Australia has been on
the rise – for example, armed robberies have jumped 166
percent nationwide.
The confiscation and destruction of legally owned firearms
has cost Australian taxpayers at least $500 million. The cost
of the police services bureaucracy, including the costly infrastructure
of the gun registration system, has increased by $200 million
since 1997.
“And for what?” asks Mauser. “There has been
no visible impact on violent crime. It is impossible to justify
such a massive amount of the taxpayers’ money for no decrease
in crime. For that kind of tax money, the police could have had
more patrol cars, shorter shifts, or better equipment.”
Canada
The contrast between the criminal violence rates in the United
States and in Canada is dramatic. Over the past decade, the
rate of violent crime in Canada has increased while in the
United States the violent crime rate has plummeted. The homicide
rate is dropping faster in the US than in Canada.
The Canadian experiment with firearm registration is becoming
a farce says Mauser. The effort to register all firearms, which
was originally claimed to cost only $2 million, has now been
estimated by the Auditor General to top $1 billion. The final
costs are unknown but, if the costs of enforcement are included,
the total could easily reach $3 billion.
“It is an illusion that gun bans protect the public. No law,
no matter how restrictive, can protect us from people who decide
to commit violent crimes. Maybe we should crack down on criminals
rather than hunters and target shooters?” says Mauser.
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute
is an independent public policy
organization based in Vancouver, with offices in Calgary
and Toronto.
Back
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