In the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, Australia has struggled to come to terms with the reality of Islamic terrorism conducted on our home soil and an appropriate response to this horrific, evil act perpetrated indiscriminately on Australian men, women and children. The political class has been far more resolute in their response, rushing a bill through parliament to criminalise hate speech, hate groups, and further tighten gun control laws.
There are many unanswered questions regarding Bondi. How could the father have a gun licence if he wasn’t even an Australian citizen, and was known to ASIO as a potential link to terrorist groups in Australia? Why was additional police security for the Hanukkah celebration rejected, despite the Jewish Community Security Group assessing the event as carrying a high risk of violent antisemitic attack, and why were the event organisers not even allowed to hire private armed security to provide further protection? These were not unreasonable questions to ask even prior to the tragedy at Bondi Beach. Had our politicians and bureaucrats adequately addressed any one of these questions in advance, the death and destruction that this attack caused would likely have been significantly mitigated or eliminated.
It is with this in mind that ASF Director Professor Gigi Foster coordinated with gun and crime expert Dr John Lott, President of the Crime Prevention Research Institute in America, to conduct a speaking tour in Australia to discuss the relationship between gun rights and violent crime rates in society – a question that he has studied for decades. Some of the events at which John spoke included The Good Knights community group, ASF and Topher Field one-on-one interviews, a joint NSW Libertarians, Shooters Union and Students for Liberty event at NSW Parliament House, an ASF Monthly Members’ Forum, the inaugural ASF Vox Libera community “salon” event, interviews with parliamentarians, an academic seminar at the ANU, and a Brisbane Dialogues dinner event.
John is an economist who has spent decades researching the links between gun control policies and crime around the world and through history, so he was well-positioned to present his findings and discuss their implications for policy initiatives that best promote social welfare – particularly, lower rates of violent crime. Some of the main points that John made throughout his various speaking events include:
- Police are the single most important factor in crime prevention but police themselves realise that they virtually always arrive at the crime scene after the crime has occurred so that raises questions about how people can defend themselves.
- Around the world, every time we’ve seen a policy that bans guns or handguns, murder rates go up. The bans take guns away from law-abiding citizens, not criminals, so disarming victims makes it easier for criminals to successfully commit crimes. Statistically, guns are used in a defensive capacity five times more than they are used in an offensive or criminal capacity.
- John’s research has shown that the most vulnerable people in society are the ones who benefit the most from having guns for protection: people who are relatively weaker physically – women and the elderly – and (in the US) poor black people who live in high-crime urban areas.
- A huge amount of gun crime in America is drug-gang-related and geographically concentrated. John explained that 56% of murders occur in 2% of U.S. counties, while 54% of counties have zero murders in a given year.
- The Australian media is responsible for vast underestimation in the Australian public mind of how high some violent crime statistics are in Australia, even compared to the United States. According to the statistics, assaults and robberies in Australia are almost twice as likely as in America. The under-reporting of crimes in Australia is also higher than in the US.
- Mass public shootings do not occur in places where there is strong uniformed security or permitted concealed-carry. John pointed out that the US has a lower per-capita rate of mass public shootings than many European countries and that there is an over-representation of “trans” individuals as perpetrators of recent mass public shootings.
Having John tour Australia reminded us of the importance of collecting data that is helpful for assisting in the analysis of complex, nuanced problems and the development of public welfare policy based on rational analysis rather than emotional rhetoric or political point-scoring. Sadly, once again, rather than acknowledging the reality of the situation and the sentiment in the Australian community, our government has demonstrated weak interest in the welfare of the Australian people, our ability to have open and honest dialogue, the necessity of free speech, and the danger of increasingly totalitarian laws.
Whether you agree or disagree with John Lott’s views on gun access for citizens, it is vital for a thriving Australian culture to be able to have open and honest discussion on difficult topics like this, so that we can work out what is best for Australia and our people. We look forward to discussing other difficult topics at future ASF events.
On that point, keep a look out next week for the release of the first episode of the new ASF interview series where Jason Strecker sat down and had a long-form discussion with John Lott. In this conversation you will hear them go into detail on the issues covered above and much more!
