Changes

[[image:Robbery victims per 100K.png|300px|thumb|<small>Source data:  Australian Bureau of Statistics</small>]]

[[image:Robbery victims per 100K.png|300px|thumb|<small>Source data:  Australian Bureau of Statistics</small>]]

In [[Australia]], where gun ownership was less widespread and the gun control measures were less strict, there was still an unmistakable increase in robbery and armed robbery after the gun control went into effect in 1996<ref>The "public was immediately whipped into a gun control frenzy by the press" after the "Port Arthur massacre" in Tasmania on April 28, 1996, in which 32 were shot to death and 19 injured.  "Although polls done prior to the massacre indicated that the public was satisfied with the amount of 'gun control' they already had, a major newspaper did a poll just a few days after the massacre (while all minds were "clear") and, not surprisingly, found high levels of support for extreme gun control measures.  This poll would be used forever by the commonwealth government and other gun controllers to claim that Australians supported the new gun laws to come." - [http://www.gunsandcrime.org/aussiegc.html Gun Control in Australia] (by gunsandcrime.org)</ref> (see the figure to the right).  Other data are less clear, but there is no evidence supporting the promised decrease in crime from gun control.<ref>[http://www.gunsandcrime.org/auresult.html Results of the Australian Gun "Buyback" & New Gun Laws], October 2001</ref><ref>[http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/azl084v1 Study showing lack of promised benefits from gun control]</ref>  But the gun control did have the predictable long-term political effect: voters became more reliant on the government and by 2007 candidates favoring bigger government won in a landslide.<ref>ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) - [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/ 2007 Federal Election]</ref>

In [[Australia]], where gun ownership was less widespread and the gun control measures were less strict, there was still an unmistakable increase in robbery and armed robbery after the gun control went into effect in 1996<ref>The "public was immediately whipped into a gun control frenzy by the press" after the "Port Arthur massacre" in Tasmania on April 28, 1996, in which 32 were shot to death and 19 injured.  "Although polls done prior to the massacre indicated that the public was satisfied with the amount of 'gun control' they already had, a major newspaper did a poll just a few days after the massacre (while all minds were "clear") and, not surprisingly, found high levels of support for extreme gun control measures.  This poll would be used forever by the commonwealth government and other gun controllers to claim that Australians supported the new gun laws to come." - [http://www.gunsandcrime.org/aussiegc.html Gun Control in Australia] (by gunsandcrime.org)</ref> (see the figure to the right).  Other data are less clear, but there is no evidence supporting the promised decrease in crime from gun control.<ref>[http://www.gunsandcrime.org/auresult.html Results of the Australian Gun "Buyback" & New Gun Laws], October 2001</ref><ref>[http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/azl084v1 Study showing lack of promised benefits from gun control]</ref>

[[Liberals]] obtained the same political effect in enacting gun control in [[Britain]] and [[Canada]].  In [[Britain]], for example, the enactment of strict gun control enabled the [[Labour Party]] to win a landslide 179 seat majority in the 1997 general election, the first time it exceeded 40% of the popular vote in over 25 years.

[[Liberals]] obtained the same political effect in enacting gun control in [[Britain]] and [[Canada]].  In [[Britain]], for example, the enactment of strict gun control enabled the [[Labour Party]] to win a landslide 179 seat majority in the 1997 general election, the first time it exceeded 40% of the popular vote in over 25 years.