[AFNurse]

Can not confirm the info here, but thought you would enjoy it.
Nurse

Australian Gun Law Update

Here's a thought to warm some of your hearts...
From: Ed Chenel, A police officer in Australia & lt; /SPAN>
Hi Yanks, I thought you all would like to see the real figures from Down Under.
It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced
by a new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by
our own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars.
The first year results are now in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 6.2 percent,
Australia-wide, assaults are up 9.6 percent ;
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent.
(Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not and criminals still possess their guns!)
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since the criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly, while the resident is at home.
Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in "successfully ridding Australian society of guns." You won't see this on the American evening news or hear your governor or members of the State Assembly disseminating this information.
The Australian experience speaks for itself. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes , gun-control laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.
Take note Americans, before it's too late!

[Red Rider]

I ran this through Snopes (which I have found to be very balanced on myriad issues) and came up with this link:

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Australian Guns Stats

I have been to Australia, and also worked quite a bit with some sections of their armed forces in SE Asia, and tend to agree that this "Ed Chenel" is a bit off base. He just doesn't ring authentic to me. I think Snopes addresses this justly.

That said, I'll kill any SOB that tries to deny me my Right under the Bill of Rights to bear arms, as I have not forfeited it from felonious action. Australia is a country that has always considered firearms as tools for the few priveleged to use them. In the USA, as documented in the Bill of Rights and the Madison papers, the right to bear arms is not about hunting or plinking or even law enforcement - it is about ensuring the People have the means to protect themselves from their Government, first. Then, from others' illegal acts or that of other governments. Hunting never had a dang thing to do with it.

[Slimjim]

It does look like he may have stretched the truth a little but the fact remains........"When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns". I'm plagiarizing this from somebody. I don't want to be like Obama and not give credit where credit is due.

[2fastnaz]

I promise when they get mine they'll be "Hot, Smokin, and Empty"