One columnist, Nicholas Kristof, claimed that in the seven years after Australia banned some types of handguns and rifles "the firearm homicide rate was almost halved." But note that he does not point to overall homicides. He has good reason to avoid that statistic, as there was no decline in overall homicides during that period. Criminals simply shifted to other ways of killing their victims. Wouldn't it be pertinent to point out that the firearm homicide rate should have been 0%, not 50%, if the ban were based on reality and logic. Banning firearms to eliminate gun related crime assumes that only law abiding people commit crimes. Typical liberal logic.