Free Republic

Australia has one of the strictest firearms regulatory schemes in Western Civilization. It has not appreciably changed their overall murder or suicide or accidental death rates, which were already low and falling when the scheme was implemented. As Australia is an continent considerably separated from the rest of the industrialized world, it is a near ideal test case for the efficacy of gun control schemes. A figure from an Australian government report on sources of illegal guns shows that when guns are tightly regulated, criminals find ways around the regulation.

Gun crime offences in London surged by 42% in the last year, according to official statistics. The Met Police's figures showed there were 2,544 gun crime offences from April 2016 to April 2017 compared to 1,793 offences from 2015 until 2016. Knife crime also increased by 24% with 12,074 recorded offences from 2016 to 2017. The Met said although crime rates were rising they remained at a much lower level than five years ago. Scotland Yard registered annual rises across a number of serious offence categories in the past 12 months, following several years of falls. The total number of...

While perhaps not the most publicized recent development regarding the European Union, in recent weeks the political bloc has pushed forward with its plans to severely curtail gun rights across its 27 member states. On June 10, the European Council endorsed a version of the proposed changes to the European Firearms Directive pushed by the European Commission late last year in the wake of terrorist violence. The European Parliament still has a chance to weigh in on the issue, with a final vote scheduled for later this year.