RESTRICTIVE FIREARM LEGISLATION

RESTRICTIVE FIREARM LEGISLATION

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: Gary_Mauser@sfu.ca

Related Publication

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.