Well, here is the unwrapped link.
<http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/ECFAF68AB75AE9E3CA256DEA00053A5A>
I have read it and am wondering what sort of conclusions I'm supposed to
draw. Mr. McBride's assertion that crime has dramatically increased can
only be supported by selective reporting of the data. Likewise, any
significant reduction in crime can also only be supported by selective
reporting of the data.
If you concentrate on the second table (crime rate per 100,000
population) you'll see that the rates do wobble around considerably from
year to year but there has been no dramatic change or trend line visible
in the six year history starting from 1997. I don't know anything about
Ms. Peters or Australian gun laws except what was in the Wikipedia link.
But it would indicate that the gun reductions would have occured in the
mid to late 90's. If there is an effect it would be rather hard to draw
out of this data. In fact, if I want to selectively report the facts I
could show very large percentage increases in murder, attempted murder
and armed robbery by choosing my comparison years. And, if you want to
show significant increases in assault rates you don't even have be
careful about picking the years.
Best to actually read the data that's linked to.
Chuck Norcutt
James N. McBride wrote:
> The link didn't work for me. Would like to read it too. /jmac
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