>"The murder rate with firearms has dropped by more than 40 percent". That statistic is only useful if we only care about murders committed with firearms. Hone

>"The murder rate with firearms has dropped by more than 40 percent". That statistic is only useful if we only care about murders committed with firearms. Honestly why would that be meaningful? At the end of the day the only thing that matters is total homicides. Looking at total homicide rates in Australia (per hundred thousand): 1.9 in 1996, up to 2.0 in 2000, and down to 1.3 in 2007. In the US 7.4 in 1996, down to 5.9 in 2007. A similar decline in both the US, and Australia. The evidence doesn't show that the gun ban did anything to significantly lower overall homicide rates.