Just over a year ago, Australia followed in the footsteps of mother country Great Britain and made law a total ban on hand guns.
The gun ban and confiscation program cost the Australian government more than $500 million. Sometimes using deadly force, authorities there collected 640,381 personal firearms.
And now the results are in: Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent (in a country that has a low homicide rate).
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent).
In the state of Victoria, homicides with firearms are up 300 percent.
Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms - since the gun ban this has changed for the worse.
Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after such monumental effort and expense was successfully expended in "ridding society of guns."
An e-mail circulating the Web reveals the harmful effects of the Australian gun ban, noting that "you won't see this data on the evening news or hear your governor or members of the state Assembly disseminating this information." By Carl Limbacher - NewsMax.com 6-7-00
So much for the supposed benefits of gun control. In fact the real reason for gun control is to disarm a populace prior to the imposition of authoritarian rule; it happened in Soviet Russia, it happened in China and Nazi Germany and it's happening now in the western world. According to Aaron Zelman, Executive Director of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), the introduction of gun control has foreshadowed the emergence of oppressive regimes throughout the 20th century. From Idi Amin to Pol Pot and Stalin gun control has become the hallmark of those who wish to further their power over society, after all an unarmed populace is much less likely to resist than an armed one. The figures speak for themselves:

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves were rounded up an exterminated.

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945 13 million were thrown into concentration camps.

Apart from dictators and demagogues the only beneficiaries would appear to be the criminals themselves. Thus in the wake of the ban of privately owned firearms in the UK, passed in the aftermath of the Dunblane killings, there has been a huge increase in the number of illegally held firearms. According to figures from a recent Home Office survey there are now an estimated 3 million firearms in the UK, most of them in the hands of criminals. Moreover criminals are now using automatic weapons rather than pistols or shotguns as weapons of choice. In the words of Detective Superintendent Keith Hudson of the National Crime: "We are recovering weapons that are relatively new - and sometimes still in their boxes from eastern European countries." And as in Australia the number of armed crimes has risen steadily since the introduction of more restrictive gun laws. In London last year there were 20 fatal shootings, compared with 9 in 1998. In fact 1998 saw armed crimes in London increase by 10%, but once again don't expect to hear that from the mainstream media.

"To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them." George Mason, American patriot.

My good friend, the late Reverend Stephen Dunker, C.M., was a missionary in China who was imprisoned by the Communists during the early 1950s. I heard him tell of his experiences many times. When the Communists first took over the area where he lived, they appeared to be good rulers. They established law and order and cleaned up the traffic in drugs and prostitutes. Then one day the Communist bosses announced, "You can see that we have established a good society and you have no need for your guns. Everyone must come in the night and dump all guns in the town square." The people believed and obeyed. The next day, the reign of terror began, with public executions and cruel imprisonments. Everyone accused of being a "landlord" was dragged through the streets and executed; a "landlord" was anyone who farmed his little plot of ground with two water buffalo instead of one. Phyliss Schlafly, The Schlafly Report, June 2000.

"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future." Adolph Hitler, 1933.

From the Seeker, PO Box 458, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1UL, UK