Oh my God is Mise you have got to be kidding! I really struggling believe you have just used the deaths of these people to invent some fallacious defense of guns?

How do you do it? What warped set of values allows you to disregard the bleeding obvious and take one tragic incident involving knives in one of the most gun infected parts of the US to try and put stabbings on a par with shootings?

Shameful.

Let's get a little perspective shall we. Gage Park is middle tier of the 77 Chicago community areas for crime.

Here are its statistics for homicide for the last 10 years.
http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/neighborhood/gage-park/#homicide_link_4456105

Please note of the 65 reported homicides in Gage Park over the described 10 year period, 54 or 80% of them were from gunshots. All this in a community of around 40,000 people or the equivalent of Manly NSW.

And what were the number of shooting deaths in Manly for the same period? Looks like zero mate. None, zilch, zip.

You want to march us on the path to Gage Park. I want us to stay where we are. That is fair enough but please use such a damning example as you have done to support your case. It is just plain idiotic.

//Is it not silly to have a law that cannot be proven?//

Isn't it not silly to not use sentences which don't employ so many double negatives?

Is Mise we have clashed many times over the years on the question of gun control and I'm sure we'll never see eye to eye, but to use the deaths of 6 innocent family members including a child by stabbing as justification for the relaxation of gun laws, I assume that's what you want for Australia, is as SteeleRedux rightly points out a new low even for you.

Here in NSW we have the Bobbsey Twins, the Two Bobs, from The Shooters and Hooters Party with their child like thinking when it comes to gun laws and gun control. This pair of bozo's are forever prattling on about the rights of gun owners in the NSW Legislative Council. Never once have they showed the slightest concern for the victims of gun violence. At one time I thought that these gun happy politicians, and their supporters, were simply misguided, and one day would see the error of their ways, eventually coming to a position of reasoned sensibility, alas, such a position for these selfish, self centered, gun happy bogans is not possible, while ever their only concern is ones own perverse pleasure to be had with firearms. Their motto should be "Stuff the innocent dead, I'm having fun!"

Fortunately the people of New South Wales have strong voices in the five Greens council members led by David Shoebridge to counter the excessive demands on gun laws, by the minuscule minority of society led by the Two Bobs from The Shooters and Hooters Party.

SteeleRedux,

You declare that you don't want Manly, NSW to go the way of Gage Park, a suburb of Chicago considering the latter's record of violent crime.

Too easy! Just don't slavishly repeat the social policy mistakes, examples being in immigration and multicultural policy, that led to those high crime numbers in Gage Park.

Gage Park Demographics 2010
• White 4.74%
• Black 5.42%
• Hispanic 89.21%
• Asian 0.3%
• Other 0.33%

OVERVIEW OF GAGE PARK
DEMOGRAPHICS [US Census and City of Chicago sources]

Population (2010) 39,894
Chicago 2,695,598
Area 2.20 sq. mi
Chicago 227.6 sq. mi
Population density 18,147 /sq. mi
Chicago 11,844 /sq. mi
Per-capita income $12,014
Chicago $27,148
Households below poverty level 20.8%
Chicago 18.7%
Unemployed 14.0%
Chicago 11.1%
Living in crowded housing 17.4%
Chicago 4.7%
No high school diploma 54.1%
Chicago 20.6%
Age: under 18 or over 64 40.4%
Chicago 34%

Steele,

"Oh my God is Mise you have got to be kidding! I really struggling believe you have just used the deaths of these people to invent some fallacious defense of guns?"

I merely set out to illustrate the selectivity of reporting in the media. I did not mention guns.

Toni,

The sentence is grammarly correct, if not analyze it.

Paul,

That's the funniest post from you yet.

Australia now has just as many guns [and better and far more accurate] than pre-1996 yet the crime rate with firearms is falling, seems that more guns mean less crime.

"A study has found Australians now own as many guns as they did at the time of the Port Arthur shootings in 1996.

More than 1 million guns were destroyed in the aftermath of the massacre, but research shows Australians have restocked over the past 10 years, importing more than 1 million firearms.

Despite that, the number of gun-related deaths has halved since the gun buyback"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-14/australians-own-as-many-guns-as-in-1996/4463150

So are these all registered and legally owned firearms Is Mise?

What's the breakdown on weapon type? Are there as many semi-automatics or automatic weapons as previously? These are the ones that were specially targeted as being used in massacres.

I would hazard to guess that the vast majority of these weapons were purchased legally, by people who are members of gun clubs and have had the requisite background checks.

I am also guessing that they weren't semi-automatic weapons, but you may tell me differently.

The fact that 'gun' (generalised) ownership has increased under our laws and yet crime hasn't risen, indicates to me that our guns laws are working and shouldn't be changed or relaxed. Thanks for this information Is Mise.