Gun-Grabber Drops Ball, Gets Fisted

I'm pretty proud (justifiably or otherwise) of most letters that I get published in newspapers, but I doff my hat to Dr Don Weatherburn, Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics.

Check out this exchange that occured in the pages of the Socialist Morning Herald:


Excerpt from the article that started it all:
'Gun ownership is rising and there is no definitive evidence that a decade of restrictive firearms laws has done anything to reduce weapon-related crime, according to NSW's top criminal statistician.
The latest figures show a renaissance in firearm ownership in the state - a 25 per cent increase in three years. And the head of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Don Weatherburn, said falls in armed robberies and abductions in NSW in the past few years had more to do with the heroin drought and good policing than firearms legislation.
Even falls in the homicide rate, which have been steady, began long before the gun law debate provoked by the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
There has been a drop in firearm-related crime, particularly in homicide, but it began long before the new laws and has continued on afterwards. I don't think anyone really understands why. A lot of people assume that the tougher laws did it, but I would need more specific, convincing evidence …'


This obviously put the wind up one Professor Simon Chapman, notorious liar and gun-control maniac, who responded via the letters page:
'Don Weatherburn's scepticism that Australia's Port Arthur gun laws
have had "any effect" ("Gun laws fall short in war on crime", October
29-30) will henceforth be cited by every gun-lusting lobby group
throughout the world in their perverse efforts to stall reforms that
could save thousands of lives.
Yes, gun deaths were falling before Port Arthur, but they have
continued downward. There were 521 gun deaths in Australia 1996, and
290 in 2003, a 44 per cent fall, despite population growth. A key
platform of the 1996 gun laws was to remove from under the nation's
beds semi-automatic rifles capable of killing many people quickly.
Since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, there has been not one mass
shooting incident (four or more deaths) in Australia. In the nine
years before Port Arthur, there were 10 such incidents such as
Strathfield, Hoddle and Queen streets, with 66 deaths, the majority
caused by citizens with no criminal record. With one in 12 NSW adults
now owning a gun, could we have the latest data on how many guns used
by criminals are stolen from law-abiding citizens' homes?'


The Don's response must go down as the most worthy intellectual fisting ever delivered in the public arena. Check out this:
'It may come as a surprise to Simon Chapman (Letters,
October 31) but, like him, I too strongly supported the introduction
of tougher gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre.
The fact is, however, that the introduction of those laws did not result
in any acceleration of the downward trend in gun homicide. They may have
reduced the risk of mass shootings but we cannot be sure because no one
has done the rigorous statistical work required to verify this
possibility.
It is always unpleasant to acknowledge facts that are inconsistent with
your own point of view. But I thought that was what distinguished science
from popular prejudice.'

Cop that.

Weatherburn is a man of integrity who has the stones to stand up and say "I was wrong, the evidence is there for all to see."

Chapman is typical of the emasculated fools posing as intellectuals in the modern West. Check out his CV - which includes a list of published letters written to newspapers. I reckon Don Weatherburn should imitate that model.

http://tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/site/supersite/contact/docs/chapman.htm