Totally Off Topic....

[Brent]

....but worth posting.

GUNS AHOY
>
> From:  Ed Chenel (police officer in Australia)
>
>  Hi Yank, 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 alone,
> 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