The much-heralded Australian gun confiscation scheme of the late 1990s failed to disarm criminals to such a degree that Australia is going after guns again, beginning in July of this year. In other words, the gun confiscation scheme Hillary Clinton praised on October 16, 2016, as “worth looking at” for gun policy in America actually created an uneven playing field where law-abiding citizens turned in their guns while criminals retained theirs. The NRA-ILA reports:
In a tacit admission that criminals and scofflaws have had little trouble circumventing Australia’s National Firearms Agreement (NFA) and the government’s confiscation effort, Australian officials have set a date for another firearms amnesty program. The program is set to begin in July and last for three months. Despite offering no compensation for surrendered firearms, government officials hope that the plan will net 260,000 of an estimated 600,000 illegally possessed guns.
On August 21, 2013–over 15 years after Australia’s forced buyback/confiscation scheme was carried out–Breitbart News reported that Australian gun crime was “out of control.” The Ballina Shire Advocate reported “over 9,000 guns [had] been taken off New South Wales (NSW) streets and 3352 people [had been] charged” during police operations in the previous 12 months alone.
On October 22, 2016–20 years after the forced buyback/confiscation scheme was carried out–Breitbart News reported the Australian government’s admission that hundreds of thousands of “illegal firearms” remained in criminal possession. Moreover, The Age reported:
Known criminals were caught with firearms 755 times [in 2015], compared to 143 times in 2011 The epicentre of the problem is a triangle between Coolaroo, Campbellfield and Glenroy in the north-west, with Cranbourne, Narre Warren and Dandenong in the south-east close behind Criminals are u sing gunshot wounds to the arms and legs as warnings to pay debts Assault rifles and handguns are being smuggled into Australia via shipments of electronics and metal parts. To put it succinctly, evidences of the failure of Australia’s gun ban are legion. The solution? More gun control of course, but this time there will be no financial payments for the guns surrendered.
From the NRA-ILA:
Implementation of yet another amnesty is a broad acknowledgement of the futility of Australia’s gun control regime and amnesty programs. Further, more sophisticated analyses have also revealed the ineffectiveness of the country’s previous turn-in efforts.
In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice reviewed the available research on Australia’s National Firearms Agreement… confiscation program and issued a memorandum that concluded that the effort had no effect on crime generally. In coming to this determination, the memorandum cited work from University of Maryland Professor Peter Reuter and Jenny Mouzos, aptly titled, “Australia: A Massive Buyback of Low-Risk Guns.” The NIJ memo made clear that the researchers “found no effect on crime.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
