[Valigator]

From: Ed Chenel, A! police officer in Australia
Hi Yanks, I thought you all would like to see the real figures from Down
Under. It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced
by a new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our
own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million
dollars.
The first year results are now in: Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2
percent, Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent; Australia-wide, armed
robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)! In the state of Victoria
alone, homicides wi! th firearms are now up 300 percent. (Note that while
the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not! and
criminals still possess their guns!)
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed
robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12
months, since the criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the
elderly.
Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has
decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in
"successfully ridding Australian society of guns." You won't see this on the
American evening news or hear your governor or members of the State Assembly
disseminating this information.
The Australian experience proves it. Guns in the hands of honest citizens
save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws affect only the
law-abiding citizens.