Gary Wechter, in his “criticism” entitled “Gun-free Australia” (March 8) wrote that another letter writer, Ken McCalip, “lied or failed to check his facts when he stated that since 1996, when Australia banned and confiscated certain types of weapons, they’ve had ‘zero’ mass shootings” and suggested McCalip “take the time” to check Google’s link to the Wikipedia article that lists all reported mass murders both before and after Australia’s gun reform laws. Wechter then goes on to say that, indeed, there were 13 mass killing events in Australia since 1996.
First, as one of countless English teachers who do the same, I have forbidden students to use Wikipedia as a supporting source for any research on the grounds that almost anyone can edit Wikipedia and show his/her bias. Second, Wechter’s “interpretation” of what he read is incorrect. Several other scholarly articles listed by Google after Wikipedia, articles published in, among other journals, the Journal of the American Medical Association and by Simon Chapman and his colleagues at the University of Sydney, correctly state that, “before gun reform, 13 mass killings occurred from 1979-1996 [through the date of the article cited, May 2016], whereas from 1997 [after gun reform], no fatal mass shootings occurred” in Australia.
Furthermore, the rate of suicides and homicides also fell drastically. Australia then bought back all banned weapons surrendered.
It is important to note here that Australia’s gun laws apply to its citizens universally, and Australia does not accept the argument of “need of personal protection” as grounds for immunity from compliance with the stringent regulations of the law.
In a recent televised White House meeting between President Donald Trump and the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, when questioned by the press, Turnbull confirmed that the absence of mass murders in Australia since 1997 is still true.
As has been said, “Everyone is entitled to his opinion, but not to his own version of the facts.”
This article appears in Mar 15-22, 2018.