As Gun Control Australia creates headlines by saying there are now more than 4 million registered firearms in Australia, SSAA has pointed out that the rate of gun deaths in Australia has fallen by 70% since 1996.
“Sport Shooting in Australia is safe and does not compromise public safety,” SSAA CEO Tom Kenyon said in response to a study commissioned by Gun Control Australia and conducted by the Australia Institute, which asserts, “Australian has not solved the problem of gun control”.
“Firearms deaths are lower than before the National Firearms Agreement was introduced, regardless of the number of guns that are registered,” Mr Kenyon said.
An SSAA press release highlighted the simple figures that the Australia Institute ignored in its study:
- In 1996, the rate of gun deaths in Australia was 2.9 per 100,000 people
- In 2018, the rate of gun deaths in Australia was 0.88 per 100,000 people
The Australia Institute report put heavy emphasis on the fact that the number of firearms owned by Australians has increased by 25% since before the 1996 gun laws were introduced, implying this represents a failure of gun control and a threat to public safety.
“While the [1996] reforms substantially improved public safety, the number of registered firearms is now 25% higher than it was nearly three decades ago and continuing to rise,” it said, but it did not present any findings that correlated an increasing number of guns with a reduction in public safety.
SSAA pointed to a 2021 study by the University of Sydney found that the proportion of Australian households with a firearm had fallen by 75% since 1997.
“In fact, Target and Precision sports (including shooting) is the safest sport in Australia according to the Federal Government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,” it said.
SSAA also stated:
- The National Firearms Agreement is working and there is no evidence to support the conclusion that legal firearms pose a problem in Australia
- Contrary to the assertion by the report, children are not allowed to own firearms in Australia
- None of the 6 “policy criteria” outlined in the report with its dramatic red and green colour scheme are required by the National Firearms Agreement.
“The report, funded by Gun Control Australia and the Australian Gun Safety Alliance, is in fact a bald-faced attempt to once again paint sporting shooters as a malign influence in the community when in fact, the opposite is true,” My Kenyon said.
“The real problem is that not enough effort is being put into targeting illegal firearms in Australia.
“Over 95% of crimes committed with a firearm in Australia use an illegal firearm and yet there is constant focus on legal firearms.”
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