NT (Australia) - second highest... gun ownership in the nation but the lowest rate of firearm crime

Northern Territory News ^ | 4th January 2015 | Megan Palin

[naturalman1975]

THE NT has one of the highest per capita rates of gun ownership in Australia but the lowest rate of firearm-related crime, police have said.

The gun control debate has resurfaced on the back of the Sydney Lindt cafe siege.

Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm went as far as to declare Australia was a “nation of victims”.

.....

Acting Senior Sergeant Bruce Payne said more than 13,000 Territorians hold shooters’ licences – mostly for sport.

“The NT has one of the highest rates of firearm owners in Australia – second only to Tasmania,” he said.

“But the rate of firearm crime is the lowest.”

The latest Australian Institute of Criminology statistics show there were 15 murders in the NT between 2010-12 – 10 were knife stabbings.

None were shootings.

[demshateGod]

If Australia gets some real gun rights, it'll be really tempting.

[naturalman1975]

I don’t think we’re ever likely to be a gun owners paradise. Really, what I want more than anything is one simple change.

“Personal security” being explicitly added to the list of reasons a person can own a firearm.

At the moment, because of the requirement that you provide a reason, and the fact that that expressly isn’t a reason, means you have to jump through overly convoluted hoops - a lot of people, for example, join a target shooting club, just so they can use that as a reason because it’s on the list.

I’m not saying a lot more change wouldn’t be nice. But that one change would have a huge positive impact.

[TigersEye]

In the NWT fear of giant salt water crocs ought to be a good enough reason. ;^)

[Iron Munro]

Some day it might get through to gun control wussies that it is the criminals, not the guns that are the problem.

[yarddog]

While I was in grad school I did a project in a demographics class.

First I ranked all 67 counties in Florida for homicide rate per 1000. I had to use four decades of data because some counties had zero or near zero homicides.

Next I ranked them for percentage of the population which was Black. There was a fairly strong positive correlation but I happened to notice something else which I did not do the statistics on but was still pretty obvious.

Rural counties almost always had a lower rate than urban areas. Remember I was comparing rates per 1,000, not just raw numbers.

BTW the local TV station is reporting that several people have reported seeing a kangaroo loose in a nearby rural area. A zoo employee said people should be careful as they can be dangerous. I don’t think they have caught it yet.

[gaijin]

If you’re a retired US submarine guy and go to work for their navy, you can get citizenship there in a little over 2 years.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

The other 5 murders were by boomerang (wiped clean of fingerprints but then imprinted with Koala prints. CSIs went berserk and finally arrested a local tree inhabitant out of desperation).

The murderers did leave some clues such as the message “Return to sender”. Elvis, I just love ya.

[naturalman1975]

A zoo employee said people should be careful as they can be dangerous.

Yeah, roos have a really savage kick than can do a lot of damage. They're generally not vicious and are more likely to get away from danger than attack, but if one feels it is cornered, you don't want to be between it and an escape route.