Well the following is not sophistry and purposrts to be factual information. I offer it for what it is worth.

But if you want the clearest exposition I have ever seen on the real values behind our 2s Amendment position on guns, you need to read this page: .

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Forwarded message:

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   In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with 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 data 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. (Take note Americans, before it's too late!)

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I'd like to hear from any Aussies out there whether this seems like real data or not.

I am not a gun owner or a gun user. But I am a very concerned citizen of a once-free nation.

A