Rhian wrote: "But the data show that suicide rates in Australia dropped dramatically after we tightened gun laws, especially among men, reversing what had been an upwards trend. "

That's demonstrably wrong. Indeed immediately after the buy-back suicide rates INcreased for both men and women and remained higher for several following years, only later to resume a decline that had commenced in the early 1960's.

http://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/deaths-by-suicide-in-australia/suicide-deaths-over-time

Paul1405,
But bombing churches & mosques & flying planes into buildings all in the name God is ok with you.
As I have said many times, when the taunted retaliate they’re branded the aggressors .
Lying about one’s heritage is also highly hypocritical.

Mhaze

You are mistaken - look at the charts again. The suicide rates for both men and women trended downwards for more than a decade after 2007, with the trend for men particularly pronounced.

The web page you reference says for overall suicide rates (not just firearms):

“Rates began to rise in 1985 and fluctuated from 14.3 in 1987 to 11.9 in 1993 with a recent peak of 14.8 in 1997. This was followed by sustained declines over the early 2000s, with a low of 10.2 per 100,000 population in 2006.”

Australia’s gun law reform was initiated in 2006 after the Port Arthur massacre, and completed in late 2007. It is hardly coincidence that both firearm and total suicide rates declined substantially after these reforms,

It is hardly coincidence that both firearm and total suicide rates declined substantially after these reforms,
Rhian,
Of course just as knife related murders & drug overdose car accidents have increased as a result. As I keep saying it’s all about mentality !

Rhian wrote: "Australia’s gun law reform was initiated in 2006 after the Port Arthur massacre, and completed in late 2007"

oops....The Port Arthur Massacre occurred in April, 1996 (repeat 1996).

The gun buy-back scheme started shortly thereafter and was completed in late 1997. You will notice from the data I linked that there was a jump in suicides around that time and for a few years thereafter, although it did eventually return to the downward trend that had been evident since the mid 1960s.

There were other gun buy-back schemes over the years up to 2007, but they were all on a much smaller scale than the 1996-7 scheme, which, as per above, had no effect on the suicide rate.

Mhaze

Yep, my mistake, I should have written 1996 and 1997 not 2006 and 2007.

But the suicide data are for the correct period, and are as I described – significantly higher before than after the gun law reforms of 1996-97, as the quote I supplied from the website makes clear.

In the 10 years before Howard’s reforms were introduced (1986-1995) suicide rates averaged 21.1 per 100,000 for men, 5.5 for women and 13.1 across the population as a whole. In the 10 years after Howard’s reforms (1988-2007) suicide rates averaged 18.3 per 100,000 for men, 4.9 for women and 11.4 across the population as a whole. That might not sound like much of a change, but it represents several hundred lives a year.

The suicide rate reached 14.8 in 1997, its highest level since 1971. It fell to 13.7% in 1998 and trended downwards over the next 10 years. Given the Howard reforms were not completed until late 1997, the effects of the scheme should be expected to show in the data from 1998 onwards.

For those interested, here are the rates for the period in the decade or so before and after the reforms.

1985 12.0
1986 12.9
1987 14.3
1988 13.7
1989 12.8
1990 12.8
1991 13.9
1992 13.2
1993 11.9
1994 12.8
1995 13.2
_________

1996 13.2
1997 14.8
_________

1998 14.4
1999 13.2
2000 12.4
2001 12.7
2002 11.9
2003 11.2
2004 10.5
2005 10.4
2006 10.2
2007 10.6
2008 10.9
2009 10.7
2010 11.2