Bato said:
The criminals who already have guns and plan on using them, and not at a shooting range, aren't going to care if guns are illegal.
And if guns are illegal that just means those with guns know that civilians don't have a gun to protect themselves..
<url=http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=15304>Australia's crime <url=http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=17847>rate skyrocketed when guns were banned because of this..
We have other measures in place to protect ourselves from certain crimes, this article should help you understand where most of our crime lies.
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=101186
Sure, there are certain crimes that you won't be able to protect yourself from and come to think of it, even a gun may not be able to protect you. You are also only looking at 13 years ago when the ban was first introduced, obviously with time things got better because we are well and truly below the U.S in terms of gun crime rate.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir_percap-crime-murders-firearms-per-capita
Tell me a gun ban is going to make the stats any worse? In saying that, I have nothing against anyone that wants to own a gun. I just want them to be licensed to use one and to only use it when it's absolutely necessary. And if you follow strict standards on gun control you can reduce the chances of criminals obtaining guns and if I remember correctly the U.S weren't too crash hot at upholding their own standards. If I can find the article on that then I'll post it up.