(snips)
That is highly questionable. It is more likely that Australian streets are safer despite the tough gun control laws. In the U.S., those cities with the toughest gun control laws are also the most dangerous. But the cause and effect are probably reversed - the tough gun control laws are the result of the crime, not the cause of the crime. Nonetheless, the laws didn't "solve" the crime problem. I've read of studies that indicate that gun control laws have virtually no effect on crime rates one way or the other. And other studies have indicated that tougher gun control laws actually make the crime rate worse. So if Australia had resisted the knee-jerk reaction (tougher gun control laws), it is very unlikely that the crime rate would be any higher than it is now, and it's possible that the Australian crime rate is now actually worse than it would be had Australia left its gun control laws more liberal.
Pbutting tough gun control laws to reduce crime is like whistling to keep the elephants away. It only works if you don't have any elephants around anyway.
-- Robert Sturgeon Summum ius summa inuria.
