Guns Don't Kill People (Australian)

Do guns really kill people? Or do people kill people? The idea that it is the person behind the trigger that does the killing has been a controversial, moral dilemma of the modern era. Many of you know that I love guns, if you didn’t, you do now. (SMILE) You may be thinking “oh I know where this talk is headed”, but I ask you to hold those thoughts for the next few minutes, so that we can truly explore what is known about gun related murders and suicides. Do we just take the common beliefs, that fewer guns equal fewer murders at face value? Or are we willing to consider the possibility that, in the absence of firearms, people might simply resort to different methods to dispatch themselves and others? Today I would like to take you for a journey through the labyrinth of gun related statistics, to find the truth behind all the controversy.

Firstly, I’d like to dispel the greatest myth: more guns equal more killings. Several large scale studies have actually been made by reputable reseachers, like Harvard scholars, (Kates & Mauser 2007) using statistics from across Europe and the United states, to see if there is a correlation between the percentage of gun ownership and the prevalence of gun crime. There was in fact a distinct and reoccurring pattern discovered that shocked the academic community. Where there are more guns, there are less violent crimes. (Kates & Mauser 2007) Yes, you did hear me correctly, there are less crimes in areas with more guns. How is this possible? One would assume that in places with more guns, more criminals would have access to guns and therefore you would expect a higher rate of gun related crimes and suicides.

The truth is, even in places like America where gun ownership is less restricted than Australia, for example, you can still only buy a gun legally if you have a relatively clean criminal history. So imagine you are a criminal in the US where there are 40 million law abiding citizens that own guns, (Kates & Mauser...