Australia
The Country of Australia makes an excellent example for a case study on gun control in modern history. In 1996 Australia decided to ban semiautomatic and self-loading rifles and shotguns after the Port Arthur Massacre. It was known as the “National Firearms Agreement”, which also included a buyback program sponsored by the Australian government, in order to retrieve now illegal guns back from the public. If a civilian wanted to have a gun, they would have to submit an application for a special license, and get approved after taking a required safety course and having a “genuine reason” for owning one, of which the reason could not be just “self defense”. The law also limited the gun owner to buy ammunition for only the gun which he is licensed for, and limited the legal magazine/shot capacity to 10 rounds and under. Australia’s gun laws were additionally updated in 2002, and tightened gun restrictions for specialized target or sporting firearms.
The question is, did Australia’s gun ban and buy back program work to reduce gun related homicides?
For the case of gun related homicides, the statistics show that they have dropped overall.
Violent crime however, seems to have increased substantially.
Arguments have been made from both sides, and using the numbers with most fit with their point of view. Gun lobbyists would obviously use the violent crime chart numbers, where anti-gun groups would use the homicide numbers to argue their side.
Using Australia as a case study is important to see what the ramifications are with gun control, and the consequences it entails. Some might argue that their side is the lesser of two evils, as long as guns are off the street it’s better overall. The other side might say that education is the biggest part of safety, and if everyone was educated or trained in proper use and handling, knowledge will be the power to stop the violence. If this seems absurd, Switzerland. who has one of the highest militia gun ownership rates in the world, has a “annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population was 0.70, which is one of the lowest in the world”.