Australian Lawmaker Says Gun Ban Hasn’t Saved Lives

In a pointed op-ed published Thursday in The Daily Telegraph, an Australian lawmaker said the sweeping gun ban instituted back in 1996 after the Port Arthur massacre hasn’t saved lives. 

David Leyonhjelm, a Senator for the Liberal Democrats, said serious debate about gun laws has been all but silenced since 650,000 firearms were confiscated and destroyed, hiding the fact that the law hasn’t been effective in curbing murders. 

“… not a single study has found any change in the rate of firearm homicides as a result of the changed gun laws,” Leyonhjelm wrote. “The simple fact is that zero firearm homicides were decreasing well before the laws were implemented, and the decline simply continued at the same rate after the legislative changes. Moreover, this decline in firearm homicides in Australia is not unusual. At least two other Commonwealth countries (Canada and New Zealand) have had similar or greater declines even though these countries have far less restrictive gun laws than Australia.”