The Australian firearms industry has demanded an end to ever-toughening gun laws, following the release of crime figures that show no evidence of a gun problem.
Contrary to anti-gun lobbying and sensationalist media reporting, there has been no increase in gun violence, according to crime statistics released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
In its most recent report, BOCSAR reported one of the lowest figures for violent offences involving firearms in 20 years.
“It is clear from this set of current data that continual calls for tougher regulation of firearms in Australia is unnecessary, and the focus of law enforcement must shift to the criminal misuse of firearms,” James Walsh of the Shooting Industry Foundation Australia (SIFA) said.
“The diversion of responsibility and accountability, and lack of transparency from our regulators already affects the shooting industry’s ability to function within the constraints of poorly crafted and ill-informed regulatory frameworks.
“The rights of legitimate industry, businesses and firearm license holders should not be adversely affected especially when the data proves downward trends.”
At the same time, SIFA has lobbied the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) to clearly differentiate between legal and illegal firearms in its reports, to avoid the inevitable smearing of legitimate firearms users.
SIFA’s requests may have been adopted, with phrases such as “unregistered firearms” now appearing in ACIC and AIC literature where it had not before.
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