Lawyer-theologian-activist Rev. Tim Costello (Collins
St. Baptist Church, Melbourne) has given me permission to make
this available on the Internet. Reproduce it for your church bulletins,
give it to your friends, use it in discussion groups!

Shalom! Rowland Croucher

‘Please Don’t Buckle. We Want Gun Control’

Our politicians are under enormous pressure from
the gun lobby to back down on their commitment to outlaw semi-automatic
and military type weapons. The stridency of the shooters’ outburst
would make one think that all their weapons are being confiscated.
Whilst many of us might prefer a total gun ban the new laws only
envisage a minimalist surrender of the most destructive guns.
To use a motoring analogy the Government is not banning all cars
but only those that travel at 300 kilometres per hour.

Notwithstanding these small steps the gun lobby has
gone ape! It is our responsibility as a community to shoulder
the burden of this sometimes vicious and threatening attack directed
at politicians – otherwise they are left isolated. A diverse alliance
of churches, civil liberties groups, Trades Hall Council, the
Jewish community and the Police Association have formed in Victoria
to reassure the Federal and State Government that it is only a
small minority of Australians who speak of their _right_ to bear
arms. We believe it is time that the silent majority of Australians
stood behind our politicians and supported Mr. Howard’s gun control
laws.

How often have we heard the gun lobby’s slogan guns
don’t kill people, people kill people. This reductionist argument
can be applied to cars, alcohol, sport and any other human activity.
It is shallow, mindless logic which defends guns and implies that
we should reduce the number of people (the real problem) to have
fewer deaths by guns.

The gun lobby must be held to account for peddling
false and deceitful arguments. Firstly they argue that the mentally
disturbed killer or the professional criminal will not be deterred
by stricter gun control legislation. Thus, they conclude that
strict gun controls will be ineffective and not provide us with
safer communities.

The truth is that most homicides are not committed
by professional criminals or by mentally disturbed people. The
majority of homicides occur in the heat of the moment, often in
alcohol charged situations where the availability of a gun makes
the difference between life and death. The Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare conducted a survey which demonstrated that
more gun homicide victims are shot by licensed gun owners and
their lawfully held weapons than by criminals, unlicensed offenders
and the mentally ill combined. In fact, 73% of killers are known
to have no previous history of mental illness. Furthermore, 87%
of killers have no previous history of violent crime. Two-thirds
of the killers were licensed gun owners and 64% of all victims
died in a shooting where a military-style semi-automatic was used.

Secondly the Gun Lobby pushes the myth that restrictive
laws make little differ ence. A seminal piece of research in The
New England Journal of Medicine (1988) reports the fascinating
‘Tale of Two Cities.’ This research examined robberies, burglaries,
assaults and homicides in two very similar cities – Seattle and
Vancouver. A major difference between them has been Vancouver’s
strict regulation of guns. The study found that the rate of assaults
involving firearms was seven times higher in Seattle than Vancouver.
Moreover, the relative risk of death from homicide was significantly
higher in Seattle than Vancouver. The clear conclusion of the
researchers is that restricting gun access will reduce the rate
of homicide in the community.

Thus, the question of whether the Prime Minister’s
legislation will or will not deter criminals and mentally ill
from getting guns is hardly relevant. Fewer guns will mean fewer
total deaths. On this matter the AMA states that ‘Reducing access
to easy means of suicide has been shown to substantially reduce
the overall death rate.’ Accordingly, the AMA actively promotes
safety measures such as stricter firearm control.

The conclusions of the AMA are substantiated by a
study which found that following the introduction of Queensland’s
Weapons Act, which came into effect on 1st January 1992. There
were 69 fewer firearm suicides than in the two years prior to
the Act. The total number of suicides fell also. The study also
found that more than 85% of Queensland firearms deaths between
1980 and 1989 were linked with distress rather than crime or accidents.
The conclusion from this discussion is clear. While people (not
guns) do kill people – people with guns kill people much more
often and much more efficiently than people without guns. Restricting
guns through legislation is effective.

The third myth of the gun lobby is that guns can
protect you from crime. One need only look to the US with an estimated
200 million guns in private hands to spot this fallacy. America
would be the safest nation on earth if gun ownership deterred
crime. The easier it is to get guns, the more people will get
shot. Contrary to the Gun Lobby’s shrill claim research over several
decades has consistently shown that a gun in the home is far more
likely to be used in a suicide, murder or fatal accident than
to kill a criminal. For example, a study in the US revealed that
for every time a firearm in the home was used for legitimate self
protection, 37 lives were lost in gun suicides, 4.5 lives in gun
homicides, and 1.3 lives via unintentional gun deaths. Thus, since
the most likely person to be shot by a gun in the home is the
owner (followed by a member of his/her family) it appears that
any benefit of privately holding guns for self protection is far
outweighed by other types of gun deaths which result from easy
assess to a lethal weapon.

Finally, the gun lobby often uses the argument that
it is their ‘right’ to own a gun. However, in a civilised society,
only the State and its lawful agencies (having assumed responsibility
to protect its citizens) have the ‘right’ to have firearms. The
private possession of firearms is not a right but a ‘privilege’
granted on conditional licence to suitable people for acceptable
reasons. This privilege should not only be heavily regulated but
severely restricted. Why? Because the overwhelming evidence suggests
the greater the access the community has to firearms, the greater
the toll of victims through murder, suicide or accident.

It is clearly time to stand up to the gun lobby.
Despite their protestations that they are being punished for the
murderous actions of a ‘madman’ in Port Arthur we must insist
that the common good has precedence over individual liberties
to use military type weapons. No shooter will lose his beloved
sport and no farmer will be prejudiced. Farmers may still satisfy
the police of special cases under the proposed laws and gain an
exemption to keep their semi-automatics. We need to point out
that future generations will certainly accept that these weapons
are illegal even if some go underground as the shooters warn.
The ban on importing them will bring long term benefits as guns
are much less able to be smuggled into the country as are drugs
that can be concealed in bodily orifices.

The gun lobby’s idea of gun control is to impose
longer gaol sentences upon those found guilty of using firearms
for criminal purposes. In addition, they suggest that doctors
report all mentally unbalanced patients to a ‘central register
of loonies’ to block them from obtaining a gun licence. This is
hardly practical. It is more sensible to use preventative measures
such as disarmament of lethal weapons.

We are in desperate need of stricter gun controls
because Australia has no Federal Laws or national agency to keep
tabs on guns – estimated to number between 3.5 – 5 million.

Our patience with the gun lobby is up. They vehemently
oppose the registration of firearms yet routinely accept the registration
of cars, boats and dogs. Their arguments just don’t stack up.
Politicians should realise that the overwhelming majority of Australians
want tighter gun laws. No law can cure crimes of passion, stupidity
or a twisted mind. But societies can do something to curtail easy
access to destructive weapons.