- What they found is a decline in both suicide and homicide rates after the NFA. The average firearm suicide rate in Australia in the seven years after the bill declined by 57 percent compared with the seven years prior. The average firearm homicide rate went down by about 42 percent.
As someone who enjoys guns for being amazing machines, I'm very torn over this issue. A lot of people love guns for perfectly healthy and non-harmful reasons, but a few bad apples can ruin a bunch, etc, etc. I think there needs to be more focus on how to prevent potential wrongdoers from getting guns rather than banning them outright. I realize the NFA just banned and bought-back semi-automatic and automatic weapons, but these are a pinnacle of a technology, and, IMO, shouldn't be outright banned. A more-thorough process of determining rights to gun ownership definitely needs to be addressed, though. Right now, I don't think anyone has come up with a surefire way to only keep responsible people able to own guns, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way. I'm sure there is a way to do it, but if we keep focusing on "removing all guns" method of enforcement, then a better method will never be found.