Paul1405,

Likely you just grab at any headline as 'Watermelon' Greens are prone to do, but that report is about criminals and their illegal guns, not licensed owners with legal, registered firearms.

Your post is just another instance of the cynical headline hunting Greens deliberately conflating the foul criminals with the many thousands of lawful firearms owners, many of who have been farmers or clay pigeon shooters for longer than most here have been alive and all of whom have been certified by police checks for their good character and lack of criminality.

Then again of course, with the Greens being so soft on crime, especially involving illicit drugs - which also happens to be the most common source of serious violence, including use of weapons - the Greens would never be credible on the subject anyhow.

Anyhow, what about this from the news item you linked to? See here,

<Crime experts say there has been a change in behaviour among outlaws.
One former counter terrorism officer, who spoke to The Australian and asked not to be named, said the gun culture had become so ingrained among Middle Eastern males in southwest Sydney that they have taken to settling so-called "honour'' disputes with guns.
"The culture is all guns and drugs. If someone looks at your wife the wrong way, you shoot them. They think they're bulletproof and they have this willful disregard for authority.''>
http://www.news.com.au/national/is-australia-staring-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun-crisis/story-fncynjr2-1226690018325

Could it be that your Greens' featherweight, Shoebridge, is afraid to finger the real offenders for example the violent drug-trafficking Eastern Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and prefers to slander defenceless ordinary law-abiding citizens instead?

That does seem to be the way with the Greens doesn't it? -Attracting those small but needed percentages of disaffected, wrong-uns and plumb crazy to vote for them.

Shame, Greens, shame!

Paul,
Not only is it a year old but it's not a good indicator at all.

"Did Australia’s gun laws really save 200 lives a year?
Background
• The number of firearm-related deaths was declining prior to Australia’s 1996 gun laws.
The decline continued after the legislative changes.
• Populist media and politicians have claimed that Australia’s gun laws “saved about 200 lives annually”.
This claim has not been properly examined."

See: http://www.ic-wish.org/Fact%20sheet%20Gun%20Laws%20and%20200%20Lives%20per%20Year.pdf

This is based on ABS findings.

Beach, another one of your baseless attacks on The Greens. I challenge you to produce the evidence that The Greens are "soft on crime". The evidence is there, less guns in the community, the less gun crime there is. As for all the nonsense that only law abiding people own legal guns. Following Howard's buy back the number of gun deaths in Australia declined.
You never did comment on Jim Saleam and his personal gun crime. Maybe with you, Jim is an exception, and it's you who is soft on crime.

Paul,

".... Following Howard's buy back the number of gun deaths in Australia declined."

Of course it did, it continued the downward spiral that already existed and the continuation of that spiral had nowt to do with Howard's gun grabbing laws as is shewn by the ABS based info in my last post.

Your use of the statistic is typical of the Greens misuse of statistics and their habit of pushing untruths.

If the Greens are not soft on crime then they should be targeting the criminal misuse of firearms not making life harder for the law-abiding especially the farmers

Is Mise,

You make out all farmers are law abiding citizens, obviously mot!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/farmer-in-land-dispute-charged-with-murder/5634006

The community was rightly shocked by the above. Remember cut the guns and cut the crime. I am not opposed to gun ownership where there is a legitimate reason to have one.

Paul,

"You make out all farmers are law abiding citizens, obviously mot!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/farmer-in-land-dispute-charged-with-murder/5634006

The community was rightly shocked by the above. Remember cut the guns and cut the crime. I am not opposed to gun ownership where there is a legitimate reason to have one."

Where did I make out that all farmers are law-abiding citizens?
What I said was that the Greens unfairly target them.

You illustrate one case, where are all the others?
In this case did the accused have a licence?
He was a property owner, a primary producer, so even the Greens usually agree that such people should be allowed to own firearms.