How Many Gun Deaths happen in Australia?.
About 230 gun deaths per year has been a recent average in Australia, down from an average of about 530 per year, in the years before the Gun Controls were introduced following the Port Arthur massacre.
Did the Gun Ban reduce Gun Deaths in Australia.
Australian Gun Deaths 1992 to 1996
1992 – 608
1993 – 513
1994 – 516
1995 – 470
1996 – 516
Total for 5 years: 2,623, with 3.5 million guns
Australian Gun Deaths 2012 to 2016
2012 – 231
2013 – 213
2014 – 240
2015 – 218
2016 – 238
Total for 5 years: 1,140 with 2.8 million guns, but very few rapid fire.
How Many Guns were Banned after Port Arthur?
When Australia tightened its gun controls after the 1996 massacre, in which 35 people died, 643,726 of the newly prohibited guns were bought by the Government from firearm owners at market value. Another 60,000 or so, non prohibited guns, were also voluntarily handed in for no compensation. So, about 700,000 guns in total were taken out of circulation.
Note: These were the rapid-fire rifles etc that were banned, not all guns. Many guns are still legally held in Australia, and controlled by legislation.
A story in 20016 from The Age stated:
By destroying 20% (one-fifth) of this country’s estimated stock of firearms – the equivalent figure in the United States would be 40 million guns – Australians have chosen to significantly shrink their private arsenal. In 2002-03, Australia’s rate of 0.27 gun-related homicides per 100,000 population was one-fifteenth that of the US.
www.theage.com.au/national/a-safer-place-after-howards-gun-buyback
Sources:
www.gunpolicy.org
www.aph.gov.au After Port Arthur – Issues of Gun Control in Australia