Reply To: THE PUZZLE OF MURDER-BY-GUN STATISTICS
Just last night I was thinking about the example of Australia, where there haven’t been mass shootings since their gun control overhaul in 1996. But I wondered, how did it actually affect the murder rate? Per some Aus gov’t statistics I hastily looked up, it didn’t seem like it had much effect. The murder and manslaughter rate fluctuates a lot but the trend shows a slow, steady decline from the early 90s through today, with no noticeable difference in slope after 1996.
Not familiar with Australia, but perhaps we can learn something from their experience. What appears to have happened is that their gun control had an affect on multiple kills, which are always a small part of the overall statistics. What their experience implies is that, generally speaking, someone overtaken by an impulse to kill will use a fireplace poker if there’s no firearm around.
Ending multiple shooting may have an unexpected unintended negative consequence. At least with mass shootings in the US, they make national news, putting the spotlight on gun deaths. Most days, the workaday gun deaths go almost unnoticed and don’t result in any sort of public outcry. So, eliminating what is a miniscule portion of the overall mayhem may have the unintended effect of lulling the public into acceptance of the vast majority of gun homicide.
