These arguments in favour of a privately armed society spring from those who appear to either suffer from paranoia or simply like the feel of a gun in the hand. The fact is that the public appear to be protected by strict gun laws as recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggest.

In late 2003 the ABS released an analysis of the Australian gun death figures for the year 2002.
They show that for the first time the total number of gun deaths fell below 300. It needs to be remembered that for most of the 1980′s the annual gun death figure was close to 700. That figure fell to a little above 500 in 1993. Improved gun laws were made in most jurisdictions following the tragic year of 1987 when no less that six gun massacres took place – perhaps the best remembered were at Hoddle Street and Queen Street. Gun lobby groups marched through the streets of Melbourne in January 1988 in an effort to stop stricter gun controls.

Improved gun laws again took place following the death of 35 people at Port Arthur in 1996. The gun lobby of course opposed those improved gun laws but the annual gun death figure declined. From 1998 to 2001 the annual gun death figure was between 300 and 350. Now the good news that in 2002 the figure was 299.

All this means that now, about 350 fewer Australians die each year from gun wounds. Surely that’s good news. It means that gun control works, despite what the gun lobby says. It also suggests that politicians should place little trust in the claims of gun lobbyists.