Murder rate up 20 per cent

[Bruce in West Oz]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6231463%5E421,00.html

Gun murders down -- but overall murder rate up!! Where the hell's the rationale for banning gun ownership?? The antis are crowing that this is proof gun restrictions work!!!!

Murder rate up 20 per cent
April 03, 2003

THE number of murders in Australia jumped by 20 per cent last year, with
babies aged under one year the most common victims.

New figures released today by the Australian Institute of Criminology also showed a dramatic 25 per cent drop in the number of people killed by guns in the 2001-02 financial year.

The National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) annual report found the
number of homicides in Australia had increased by 64 people, or 20 per cent,
from 317 deaths in 2000-01 to 381 last year.

Multiple killings jumped to 21 last financial year compared with seven the
previous year.

Six of the 21 multiple victim incidents involved the deaths of three people,
while 15 incidents involved two victims.

Children under one were the most common victims of homicide, with 15 babies
under 12 months killed in 2001-02.

"The second highest single age group of homicide victims was 35 years, with
13 victims," the report said.

Criminology Institute director Adam Graycar said the 25 per cent drop in firearms use to commit homicide was the lowest since the NHMP began
collecting data in 1989.

"(It) shows us the importance and need for a continued monitoring regime to
identify these shifts in trends," he said.

In 2001-02 there were 354 homicides carried out by 375 alleged offenders.

A knife or other sharp instrument was the most common type of weapon used to commit homicide (36 per cent) followed by assaultive force (25 per cent).

Compared with 2000-01, the proportion of family homicides doubled to 23 per
cent due to an increase in the death of children under five and an increase
in triple homicides which mainly involved family members.

Interesting that Graycar speaks of the drop in firearms use as a "trend" --
this is what we've been saying for years -- since 1996 in fact. The "new" anti-gun legislation has done nothing to influence crime figures in a positive way; substitution will always negate prohibition; the only people affected by the legislation were already legal; firearms crime has been dropping since ... when? 1990 or something similar?? and so on, ad nauseam.

You were wrong, Prime Minister Howard -- demonstrably so. Australia is not a "safer place" for us having had our .22s and shotguns and handguns, our legally owned property, compulsorily seized and destroyed. Be a man for once and admit you were wrong. (I won't hold my breath waiting.)

Bruce