preview

Gun Control In Australia Essay

Decent Essays

There has been a steady decline in gun deaths in Australia since they increased the regulations on firearms in 1996. Prior to the 1996 National Firearms Agreement gun policy in Australia was “relatively lenient” (Library of Congress – Australia 2). Gun policy in Australia was regulated by each individual state or mainland territory in Australia, and was not a federal matter (Library of Congress – Australia 2). Within Australia the only aspect of gun policy that the federal government was involved in was the importation of firearms, the reason in which they got involved in this was due to the fact that it fell under “the overseas trade and commerce powers of the federal Parliament” (Library of Congress – Australia 2). Gun policy transforemed drastically due to an incident that occurred in 1996. In spring …show more content…

In a more recent study conducted between 2009-2010 showed “a decrease of 18 percentage points from the peak of 31 percentage points in 1995-96”, this was the year in which the mass shooting in Port Arthur took place, and following this was when all of the firearms regulations were introduced. In Australia, a total of three mass shootings and one other incident of gun violence with a handgun with death resulting occurred over fourteen years. Following each of these incidences there were proposals for new firearm regulations that would limit the types of guns allowed, the ammunition you were able to have, as well as regulate the people who were able to obtain a firearm, and for what reason they were able to have one. In Australia, it appears that the incidence of gun homicide, in addition to the incidence of suicide has decreased since the new regulations have been

Get Access