I'm just going to throw this into the mix for conversation.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...v010p00280.pdf
"TheVictorian death rate for firearm related deaths decreased
significantly from 4.2 per 100 000 in 1979 to 1.5 per 100 000
in 2000, which represented an estimated annual percentage
change of ?4.9% (95% confidence interval 2 5.9 to 2 3.9) and
64.3% overall. The death rate for firearm related deaths for
the rest of Australian decreased significantly from 5.1 per
100 000 in 1979 to 1.8 per 100 000 in 2000, which
represented an estimated annual percentage change of
2 3.9% (2 4.8 to 2 3.1) and an overall reduction of 64.7%"
It goes on to say:
"Supportive evidence for the relation between firearm
ownership and prevalence of fatalities also comes from a
number of American studies. Miller et al , in a pooled cross
sectional time series analysis over 10 years (1988?97), found
that a disproportionately high number of children aged 5?14
years died from suicide, homicide, and unintentional firearm
related deaths in American states and regions in which
firearms were more prevalent. 6"
"After controlling for several factors, they foundthat the presence of one or more firearms in the home was
associated with an increased risk of suicide (adjusted odds
ratio 4.8, 95% confidence interval 2.7 to 8.5).10
Similarly,
keeping a firearm in the home was strongly and indepen-dently associated with an increased risk of homicide"
"For the same period , despite the declines related to firearms,overall suicide and homicide rates in Victoria did not show a
similar decline"