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Australia had a massive assault weapons buyback + gun control program after the Port Arthur shooting which reduced gun related homicides by 59% and suicides by

by dangjc 10y ago

Australia had a massive assault weapons buyback + gun control program after the Port Arthur shooting which reduced gun related homicides by 59% and suicides by 74%. They haven't had a mass shooting since. (http://theweek.com/articles/629877/here-are-3-countries-where-gun-control-worked http://theweek.com/articles/629877/here-are-3-countries-wher...) In Connecticut, after a law was passed requiring purchasers to obtain a license first, homicides dropped 40%. When Missouri repealed a similar law, homicides increased 16%. (http://www.vox.com/2015/10/5/9454161/gun-violence-solution http://www.vox.com/2015/10/5/9454161/gun-violence-solution) Please don't speak in absolutes.

lwhalen 10y ago
Well, except for the 2002 Monash University shooting, the 2011 Hectorville Siege, Hunt Family murders in 2014, Logan Shooting in 2014, etc. That's just 'massacred committed with firearms'. There's a fair number of stabbings, arson attacks, bombings, etc since the 1996 gun ban too.
_delirium 10y ago
The suicide rate in Australia has not gone down at all, much less by 74%. Do you mean only the suicides that use guns as a method? Those have declined, but not because people aren't killing themselves, just because people they're choosing other methods instead. Which seems like not much of a real win. Suicide rates for Australia were 11.0 in 1980, 12.0 in 1995, 12.5 in 2000, and currently 12.0 (as of 2014, the most recent year for which data is available). Which doesn't suggest any obvious improvement circa the gun buyback/control event of 1996.
- DanBC 10y ago
  Pretty much everyone who works in suicide prevention (in individuals and across populations) says that reduction in access to means and methods is an important part of suicide prevention. But it is just a part. You need the other stuff alongside the reduction of access to means and methods. > Australia were 11.0 in 1980, [...] currently 12.0 Just checking, but are you counting the same thing over all those years? Definitions of suicide change; methods for gathering the data changes. That makes it hard to compare rates across years. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2014~Main%20Features~Intentional%20self-harm~10004 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/... > More broadly, this change in administrative systems highlights how various factors (including administrative and system changes, certification practices, classification updates or coding rule changes) can impact on the mortality dataset. Data users should note this particular change and be cautious when making comparisons between reference periods. The change does not explain away differences between years, but is a factor to consider.

by dangjc 10y ago

lwhalen 10y ago

Well, except for the 2002 Monash University shooting, the 2011 Hectorville Siege, Hunt Family murders in 2014, Logan Shooting in 2014, etc. That's just 'massacred committed with firearms'. There's a fair number of stabbings, arson attacks, bombings, etc since the 1996 gun ban too.

_delirium 10y ago

The suicide rate in Australia has not gone down at all, much less by 74%. Do you mean only the suicides that use guns as a method? Those have declined, but not because people aren't killing themselves, just because people they're choosing other methods instead. Which seems like not much of a real win. Suicide rates for Australia were 11.0 in 1980, 12.0 in 1995, 12.5 in 2000, and currently 12.0 (as of 2014, the most recent year for which data is available). Which doesn't suggest any obvious improvement circa the gun buyback/control event of 1996.

DanBC 10y ago
Pretty much everyone who works in suicide prevention (in individuals and across populations) says that reduction in access to means and methods is an important part of suicide prevention. But it is just a part. You need the other stuff alongside the reduction of access to means and methods. > Australia were 11.0 in 1980, [...] currently 12.0 Just checking, but are you counting the same thing over all those years? Definitions of suicide change; methods for gathering the data changes. That makes it hard to compare rates across years. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2014~Main%20Features~Intentional%20self-harm~10004 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/... > More broadly, this change in administrative systems highlights how various factors (including administrative and system changes, certification practices, classification updates or coding rule changes) can impact on the mortality dataset. Data users should note this particular change and be cautious when making comparisons between reference periods. The change does not explain away differences between years, but is a factor to consider.