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Australian Institute of Criminology Report ― Australian Crime: Facts and Figures 2006.   more...

Latest NSW BOCSAR crime research figures here...

Suicides and the "Gun Deaths" Fraud, a new paper by Gary Mauser of the Fraser Institute, Canada.   more...

Also available now: UK Home Office paper, "Gun Crime: the market in and use of illegal firearms"   more...

A critique by Colin Greenwood of the above UK Home Office paper is available here.

A summary of the critique is available here.

Baker and McPhedran, authors of "Gun Laws and Sudden Death", have released their review and critique of  "Australia’s 1996 gun law reforms" by Chapman, et al, (published in Injury Prevention).  Their review  documents the oversights and shortcomings contained in the paper.  more...

 

Email the co-authors for your copy of Gun Laws and Sudden Death

Firearms Fact Sheets from WiSH.

 

The Death Dealers — Newspaper article on the availability of illegal handguns.

 

Read also this WiSH fact sheet Australia and Handguns: Myths and Facts in relation to the above news item.

 

Hubris North: A new study by Gary Mauser of Simon Fraser University, Canada, on the failure of Canadian Gun legislation to deliver its stated objectives.  Hubris North

 

Australia Institute of Criminology Report — RRP77:Homicide in Australia 2005-2006

 

Excerpt from a new paper by Professor Gary Mauser.  Download the entire paper. (1 Mb).

 "On the basis of my research, public safety cannot be said to have improved because overall criminal violence and suicide rates remain stubbornly stable. The violent crime rate has declined by 4%, but the homicide rate has actually increased by more than 9% since the registry was implemented. Perhaps the most striking change is that gang-related homicides and homicides involving handguns have increased substantially."---.

 

WiSH statistical chart showing firearm homicide as a percentage of total homicide, the percentage registered firearms used and of offenders who were licensed.   more...

"Homicide in Australia" — The Australian Institute of Criminology has been monitoring homicides in Australia since 1989. Homicide includes murder, manslaughter and infanticide, but excludes driving-related fatalities unless these occur in the course of a criminal event. In 2005-06 there were 283 homicide incidents in Australia, resulting in 301 victims, committed by 336 offenders. This represents an increase from the previous year, although overall it appears that homicide incidents are in decline.  more...

Parliamentary Brief: Background Note No. 1 2007-08 - Firearms in Australia: a guide to electronic resources. This brief is a guide to some of the literature, statistics and information on firearm ownership, firearm offences, firearm controls and government policies since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

Many people think that nations with more firearms will have more murder and that banning firearms will reduce murder and other violence. This canard does not comport, however, with criminological research in the U.S. or elsewhere.   more...

"Gun Control's Twisted Outcome - Restricting firearms has helped make England more crime-ridden than the U.S." Joyce lee Malcolm.   more...

Firearms in Australia: a guide to electronic resources. Background Note No. 1 2007-08 - A valuable resource for firearms owners. It provides a background to the thought processes of those who legislate in the federal parliament; information on firearm ownership, firearm offences, firearm controls.   more...

Fatal fires: fire-associated homicide in Australia, 1990–2005

Megan Davies and Jenny Mouzos

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice series no. 340

Fire-related homicides fall into two main categories: those where fire is used to kill the victim, and those where it is used to destroy the evidence. Using data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program database, this report identifies key characteristics of offenders and victims of fire-related homicides. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi340.html

 

Latest AIC report on homicide in Australia 2005-06.   download...

 

The Small Arms Survey 2007 has information about the civilian rate of firearms ownership world wide. Australians own 15 firearms for every 100 persons. Link to Chapter on civilian ownership Summary of chapter

 

Australian Institute of Criminology - Megan Davies and Jenny Mouzos 

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice series no. 340

Fire-related homicides fall into two main categories: those where fire is used to kill the victim, and those where it is used to destroy the evidence.

 

A new paper by Drs. Samara McPhedran and Jeanine Baker, Australian Firearms Legislation and Unintentional Firearm Deaths, suggests that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has undercounted injury deaths, including suicides and may 'over-count' unintentional deaths, and that this may lead to skewed  statistics.   more... 

 

 "Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide?" by Don B Kates and Gary Mauser. download paper...

 

“Human Rights and Gun Confiscation,” by David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen, addresses a human rights problem which has been generally ignored by the advocates of firearms confiscation: the human rights abuses stemming from the enforcement of confiscation or similar laws. download paper...

 

Australian Institute of Criminology - Fact Sheet: Weapons types and serious crime

Crime facts info, No. 158

 

Firearms in Australia Background Note: a guide to electronic resources. Issued 9 August 2007.   more...

 

UN Firearms Protocol. download paper...

Victorian Firearms Act Amendment Bill passed. Hansard PDF, see page 16

 

Firearms theft in Australia 2005–06, Samantha Bricknell and Jenny Mouzos. Research and public policy series no.82 

This report describes firearms thefts reported to police between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2006. Its findings - 634 incidents of theft, with a total of 1,445 firearms stolen - mark another decline in the number of firearms stolen yearly in Australia, down from the 1,470 firearms reported stolen in 2004–05.    Firearms theft in Australia

 

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice series no. 346: An examination of serial murder in Australia, Jenny Mouzos and David West. 

This report explores the serial murder phenomenon in Australia using data collected as part of the Australian Institute of Criminology's National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) and earlier research undertaken at the AIC (Pinto & Wilson 1990). It reports on the characteristics of offenders and victims, including the offenders' modus operandi, and finds that the profile of serial murder in Australia is similar to that found in international research. The report suggests that further research on the profile of long term missing persons and serial murder victims should be undertaken as well as exploring offenders who commit multiple murders on separate occasions, to identify what prevented them (apart from law enforcement intervention) from committing additional murders.    Trends & Issues No. 346

AIC Fact Sheet: Serial Murder in Australia PDF

UK Home Office Report on crime, September 2007. PDF

The Human Right of Self Defence PDF

Human Rights and Gun Confiscation. PDF

Australian Firearms Legislation and Unintentional Firearm Deaths. read more

AIC Fact Sheet: Storage arrangements for firearms at time of theft. PDF

Stolen Firearms Facts PDF

UK Home Office Report on crime, September 2007. PDF

AIC - An examination of serial murder in Australia. Trends & Issues in crime and criminal justice series no. 346. read more

AIC - Firearms theft in Australia 2005–06. Research and public policy series no.82. read more

AIC Fact Sheet: Serial Murder in Australia. PDF

Fact Sheet: United Nations Arms Embargoes. PDF

Howard Nemerov and David B Kopel: Is there a Relationship between Guns and Freedom? Comparative Results from 59 Nations. PDF   NOTE: You must subscribe to download this paper. Subscription is free.

AIC Fact Sheet: cfi165 - Storage arrangements for firearms at time of theft, 2005-06. PDF

AIC: Australian Crime: facts & figures 2007. PDF

AIC: Armed robbery in Australia: 2005. Research and Public Policy Series No. 84. read more

New study: 1996 bans 'missed the mark'. Executive summary

ACT: Firearms Act amendments. PDF

UN: Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons 2008. PDF

AIC Fact Sheet: cfi165 –  Storage arrangements for firearms at time of theft, 2006-07.  PDF

UN Small Arms Conference Report, 30 April 2008.  read more

Firearms Act Amendments - Speech by Family First MP

Firearms Act Amendments - Prohibition orders, Hansard Report. PDF

New study: The impact of Australia's 1996 firearms legislation. email author

The Republic of Ireland's  'Custody Order' of 1972 mandated the surrender of centre-fire rifles and handguns with unforeseen, tragic effects . PDF

AIC: Trends in violent crime. Trends and Issues in crime and criminal justice series No. 359 read more...

Australian Bureau of Statistics - Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2007 PDF

Kings College London - The report finds that most of the problems associated with the illegal use of firearms require social and economic rather than criminal justice solutions. PDF

 

To catch a predator? The MySpace moral panic. read more...

Abstract: This paper examines moral panics over contemporary technology, or “technopanics.” I use the cyberporn panic of 1996 and the contemporary panic over online predators and MySpace to demonstrate links between media coverage and content legislation. In both cases, Internet content legislation is directly linked to media–fueled moral panics that concern uses of technology deemed harmful to children. This is of particular interest currently as a new Internet content bill, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), is being debated in the U.S. Congress. The technopanic over “online predators” is remarkably similar to the cyberporn panic; both are fueled by media coverage, both rely on the idea of harm to children as the justification for Internet content restriction, and both have resulted in carefully crafted legislation to circumvent First Amendment concerns. Research demonstrates that legislation proposed — or passed — to curb these problems is an extraordinary response; it is misguided and in many cases masks the underlying problem.