I got this Email and I wanted to hear everyone who is anti-guns has to think about it?

[emek]

Australian Gun Law Update?
Here's a thought to warm some of your hearts....
From: Ed Chenel, A police officer in Australia

Hi Yanks, I thought you all would like to see the real
figures from Down Under.

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by a new law to
surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our own
government, a program costing Australia taxpayers
more than $500 million dollars.

The first year results are now in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 6.2 percent,
Australia-wide, assaults are up 9.6 percent;
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria
lone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent.(Note that
while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not
and criminals still possess their guns!)
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady
decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically
upward in the past 12 months, since the criminals now are guaranteed
that their prey is unarmed.
There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and
assaults of the elderly, while the resident is at home.

Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public
safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was
expended in 'successfully ridding Australian society of guns....' You
won't see this on the American evening news or hear your governor or
members of the State Assembly disseminating this information.

The Australian experience speaks for itself. Guns in the
hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control
laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note Americans, before it's too late!
Will you be one of the sheep to turn yours in?
WHY? You will need it.

[gilleabart]

I have never owned a gun, but I plan to buy one after I save up money for something decent. Why do I want a gun? Because I can, simply. I classify myself as a liberal, and I also believe in gun control. I just do not want us to be in a situation where criminals are the only people with deadly weapons. They should fear us

[kirklin]

http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/ausguns.asp

[teithi71]

I appreciate it, but because of the US Constitution, they can never force us to give up our guns. They might try, however people like me will not give them up. I read somewhere that it only takes like 3% of the population to overthrow a corrupt regime. There are over 90 million gun owners in the USA. 1/10th of those would be the 3% needed, imagine if all of them stood up and said enough?

[urian27]

The next time you get some right wing gun nuts e-mail you should check out Snopes first.

[gideon]

As mentioned, this is a troll post from the US not Australia. The 44% increase was an increase of 6 gun deaths for the entire country. An extra 6 which were all police shootings I.e. police doing the shooting. We count those types of deaths as homicides.

The other issues is that before 2000 there were no records kept of breaking while someone was home so of course there was an increase.

The only people who die in Australia by guns are criminals being killed by other criminals or the police. Gun deaths of civilians are unheard of. Two people killed at the same time by a gun, may not happen anywhere in a year. How many people die each month by guns I the US?