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The Impact of Gun Control Measures in Australia

Chapter 6: A Common Tool: Firearms, Violence, and Crime

Small Arms Survey 2004: Rights at Risk. Oxford University Press

1 July 2004

By Philip Alpers

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Despite reports of a crime wave in Australia following recent restrictions on the private ownership of firearms, evidence actually shows sweeping reductions in gun-related death, injury, and crime.

On 10 May 1996, 12 days after 35 people were shot dead by a single gunman at Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia's state and federal governments agreed to enact wide-ranging gun control measures. Between June 1996 and August 1998, new restrictions were progressively brought into force. These included the 1996-97 Australian Firearms Buyback, in which 643,726 newly prohibited semi-automatic and pump-action rifles and shotguns were purchased at market value for destruction by the government.

Thousands of gun owners also volunteered additional, non-prohibited firearms for free, and more than 700,000 guns were destroyed (Australia, CAGD, 2002; Giles, 2002)…

ID: N481

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