Letter: Gun laws don't work

Letter: Gun laws don't work
Date: Apr 24, 2007 11:47 AM
PUBLICATION: The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge And Waterloo)
DATE: 2007.04.24
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Opinion
PAGE: A8
BYLINE: Tom Fulmer
WORD COUNT: 193

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Gun laws don't work

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Blake Ziegler's April 18 letter, We Don't Need Guns, regarding guns and
the awful tragedy in Virginia misses the mark.

Several years ago, Australia held a gun registry not unlike the fiasco
that has and is taking place here in Canada. After that, the Australian
government went a step further and outlawed the private ownership of
firearms and owners had to turn in their weapons to law-enforcement
officials.

According to statistics, and backed up by conversations with one of my
brothers who has lived down under for over 30 years, violent crime went
up by over 10 per cent across Australia within a year of the outlawing
of private gun ownership.

The reason for this, according to many Australian law enforcement
officials and even some of the politicians who voted in favour of the
law, was that the bad guys knew that you could not defend yourself with
lethal force in your home, business or car and, therefore, their odds of
success in stealing your stuff went way up. Furthermore, the bad guys
never did register their guns so guess who now has the advantage?

Tom Fulmer
Kitchener