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comment by dublinben
dublinben  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Australia Banned Assault Weapons. America Can, Too. - NYTimes.com

The previous federal regulation had a dubious effect on gun crime, gun violence, and gun ownership. I'm highly suspicious that any similar law would produce a significant difference this time around.





JakobVirgil  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·  

a salient point although if you look at the Australian ban it is much more comprehensive. the U.S. ban was very weak.

dublinben  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The effects of that Australian law are disputed, and not clear evidence for the effectiveness of gun control.

It would also be a political and legal impossibility to enact such legislation in this country.

JakobVirgil  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Mostly disputed on the reduction of suicides. mass shootings stopped at the point of the ban.

dublinben  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·  

According to a study mentioned in the linked article:

    “the hypothesis that Australia’s prohibition of certain types of firearms explains the absence of mass shootings in that country since 1996 does not appear to be supported… if civilian access to certain types of firearms explained the occurrence of mass shootings in Australia (and conversely, if prohibiting such firearms explains the absence of mass shootings), then New Zealand (a country that still allows the ownership of such firearms) would have continued to experience mass shooting events.”
JakobVirgil  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·  

is New Zealand a good analogue for Australia?

  4.4 million versus 22.6 million population 
rural vs urban population http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9NC8BIuaEM vs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5hrUGFhsXo

also why wouldn't Australian gun policy effect New Zealand?

dublinben  ·  4354 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's a good enough comparison that the authors thought it was valid. If you disagree, take it up with them.

Keep in mind, they were using per capita statistics, so the total population doesn't matter as much.

JakobVirgil  ·  4353 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Per capita does not control for the effects of group size. so I would say to the authors of that piece "why don't you know that?"

the answer is

International Coalition for Women inShooting and Hunting (WiSH), Glebe NSW, Australia. chair@ic-wish.org <-the author

dublinben  ·  4353 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Is that basically just an ad hominem attack against the author of the study?

JakobVirgil  ·  4353 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That or a identification of propaganda. My argument does not contain an ad hom though. My argument is that New Zealand is a bad analogue for Australia and is misused by the study.

My speculation is that paper used bad science because it was paid for by a pro-gun lobby.