AJPhillips, "..her ability to analyse statistical data - when it comes to determining real figures of crime - are woefully inadequate"

You should be directing your attention to the original article that has led to the discussion at foot, specifically Andrew Leigh's very shaky assertions that:

- The rarity of mass shootings is almost certainly a direct result of the gun buyback; and,

- That the buy-back, which is the political 'Progressive' double-talk for mandatory confiscation, was responsible for a permanent reduction in suicides.

Where is the science that supports those conclusions? Where has the subject 'research' ever been subjected to peer review in any credible science journal?

That is what scientists interested in science do isn't it, subject their method, findings and conclusions to peer scrutiny? After all, a scientist wouldn't ever want to be misleading the public through giving the media sensationalist headlines (and not correcting them) and not the boring but necessary facts?

Hi there A J PHILLIPS...

'...Given I'm actually qualified in this stuff...'? What precisely are you qualified in A J PHILLIPS ? Are you now a ballistic expert, an armourer perhaps, or are you in reality a 'closet' 'Bomb tech' ?

Actually I suspect you are what you've always been, a entry level theoretician ? Mate you've sure got tickets on yourself ? And you wonder why it is, that I'd NEVER seriously bother to discuss P.P.& P. with you, despite all your taunting and goading for me to do so !

I will admit one thing though, you'd certainly 'mesmerize' and 'bewitch' a bunch of working detectives with your collective wisdom and immense knowledge !

If the banning in Australia of certain types of firearms resulted in there being no further massacres why haven't countries that allow these weapons also experienced massacres?

As the commonly available double barrel, ejector shotgun has a higher rate of sustained fire than a pump action shotgun then why hasn't there been a massacre with one of these weapons, if rate of fire is a factor?

Our revered PM has just banned the sale of a particular brand of lever action shotgun, even though it complies with Australian law and legal import licences were granted.
Apparently it has a high rate of fire, but its rate is not higher than the lever action Winchester shotguns that first came on the market in the late 19th Century and were not banned in 1996 and are available on an A class licence.

If rate of fire is to be a criterion then what should be the position on some 'burst fire' firearms that currently do not require a licence or registration at all?

There is one type of firearm that is powerful and can fire either shot or ball and which when unloaded is not a firearm under the various Acts but becomes one when loaded.
There are also very powerful firearms available, in fact laying around in sheds on rural properties, that are not only not considered to be firearms but the last time that I asked the authorities, they had never heard of them.

o sung wu,

I have been meaning to say to you that it must be galling for police to have politicians claim credit for any short-term reduction in offences, when it was most likely the equally short-term increase in police resources that was actually responsible.

In this case it is a Labor politician exhibiting the colossal, bare-faced effrontery and moralising BS, and coincidentally at a time where his leader is under scrutiny along with the union bosses that Labor and the Greens cozy up with.

Nothing is being said about the limitations police face, including the running commentary by leftists and the Green Left in particular that seldges and demonise police. For example, the Labor and Greens vowed before the recent Queensland election to knobble the police initiatives that proved so success in setting the violent, drug-dealing outlaw bikies on their heels in that State.

Also the devious efforts to blame-shift the gun and violence crimes of such mongrels onto the thousands of good, law-abiding citizens instead.

All to conceal the rather obvious unwillingness of the politicians themselves to resource the police appropriately and enable lasting full cooperation between all agencies, State and federal, whose responsibility it is to protect the public, especially where drugs are concerned. Illicit drugs make millions annually in Asutralia and therein lies some problems.

Your premise appears to be, that Lucy Sullivan is unable to understand statistics on any subject or make inferences as to their cause, because she is a sociologist. Naaah, I don't accept that.

Australia has recorded crime statistics which measured the rise of violent crime in Australia for over 100 years. Had they showed that crime was not rising, one presumes that you would not be thinking up lame excuses as to why they could be inaccurate. Perhaps you could get your socialist friends to "homogenise" the raw data to conform to your humanitarian ideology, like the climate scientists did for the raw climate figures?

Sullivan did discuss juvenile crime with accompanying graphs on page 33-36. Perhaps your edition was the "homogenised" version?

Sullivan's book showed graphs for court conviction rates for homicide, murder, rape, robbery, assault and property crimes, all of them showing a "J" curve with rates falling until after WW2, rising steadily after, and increasing upwards in increasing increments after the seventies. If they have suddenly fallen, they must have bounced off the ceiling. Although, since even the Canberra based Australian Institute of Criminology claims that ethnic related crime is a figment of the public's imagination, then if it was the AIC who posted up the new figures, I would regard them with suspicion and deep mistrust.

And you are saying that crime in the western world is not rising? Gee, 3000 murdered in one go in New York by your Muslim friends. Bombings in London and Madrid. So many rapes by your Muslim friends in Sweden that according to one Youtube website, Swedish women are dying their hair black. 70 Australian girls gang raped by your muzzie mates in 2000. School massacres by schoolchildren. Juvenile homicide rate in the USA the fastest growing crime statistic. Nightly shootings in the Muslim areas of Sydney now becoming routine. Thousands of cars being burned in France, and now Sweden. So many new crimes we have to think up new names for them. Carjacking, ram raids, drive by, tagging, granny bashing, purse snatching, "Islamist" terrorism, "honour killings", and home invasions.

G'day the ONTHEBEACH...

Yes you're quite right, coppers have to do their job in spite of the rhetoric spewing forth from politicians. One of my old bosses firmly believed, successfully deciphering crime per se was all subject to a political imperative . It wouldn't matter whether you're an axe murderer, provide there was no political backlash, the pollies couldn't careless. However, if there was a political dimension and some good mileage to be gained, they'd throw all the resources available, often to the exclusion of everything else.

The greatest (political) hot potato to my mind, was gaols. Most political parties were content to leave them be, provided that portfolio remained quiet. A case of, seen but not heard.

Concerning the F/A debate, most of my former colleagues enjoy sports shooting themselves. They too were subject to the same F/A laws everyone else was required to observe. The only difference, if a copper were to be caught in some minor F/A violation, he'd most likely do his job, as well as whatever punishment the Court might impose ?

With such a high public profile, any serious incident involving a F/A, generally precipitated politicians to go off 'half-cocked', and their very first 'frenetic' response is to immediately tighten the F/A's legislation ! And in so doing, to further impose even more stringent directives on the legitimate shooter. And as you can imagine, all that achieved, was to alienate the licensee even more so, from police and authorities, and that's regrettable.

In my own experience (I'm unable to officially confirm it across the Stat?), most serious crime in which I've been involved, is perpetrated by 'unlicensed' people with 'unlicensed' F/A's. Granted not in all cases, but certainly the majority.