Gun control doesn't work

http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=nr&id=570

Gun Laws do Not Reduce Criminal Violence According to New Study
Contact(s):
   Gary Mauser, Professor
   Simon Fraser University, Tel (604) 291-3652
   Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
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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.
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Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy 
organization based in Vancouver, with offices in Calgary and Toronto.