Stricter Gun Control

Thank you for the arguments Pro, I am hoping for an insightful debate.Homicides vs AssaultsPro has only given one example of what he believes is a gun control success: Australia. Although the statistics he cited are true, it is only one part of the story. It focuses on a few factors alone. Joyce Lee Malcolm of the Wall Street Journal states, "In 2008, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported a decrease of 9% in homicides and a one-third decrease in armed robbery since the 1990s, but an increase of over 40% in assaults and 20% in sexual assaults."[1] Pro has addressed homicide rates only, and has been silent about the amount of aggravated assaults.A quote taken from Source 2 states: "Home Invasions – a crime for which Australia didn’t even have laws before the gun ban because it never happened – are UP 21%".What needs to be pointed out here is that guns can and are used to defend people from crime. Criminals can just obtain guns from the black market, so banning gun laws really isn't going to help. If anyone honestly thinks that criminals are going to follow the law, they are very wrong. In fact, it will paint civilians as targets since they won't be able to defend themselves. They will become more vulnerable to crime and assaults, as we have seen above.Australia vs United KingdomInterestingly enough, the UK struck down on guns the same time Australia did and seemed to have the opposite effect to what my opponent claims happened in Australia. In the graph below, we notice a spike in gun-related homicides shortly after the ban.In 1968, Britain put restrictions on possessing guns by requiring citizens to get a certificate from the police allowing them to obtain a shotgun. Following that law, the homicide rate average in England and Wales rose 52% higher since the law was put in place.[3] In 1997, the same year that Australia introduced its gun law, Britain confiscated nearly all guns in England, Scotland, and Wales. Subsequent to the 1997 law, the homicide rate rose another 15%.[3] If gun control works, why are we seeing the opposite effect in the UK? Let's take a more detailed look on the homicide drop in Australia...Closer Analysis on HomicidesAlso interesting is the fact that the homicide rate in Australia was decreasing at the same rate before the ban as it was after. Let's take a look at the following graph[4]: Here is a quote taken from Source 4:"...Whether or not the homicide rate went up or down in Australia as a result of strict gun control laws imposed in 1997 is a fact that could have been checked by Times researchers. But they didn't, because facts wouldn't have given them the answer they wanted.Needless to say, the effect of Australia's gun ban has been extensively researched by Australian academics. As numerous studies have shown: After the gun ban, gun homicides in Australia did not decline any more than they were expected to without a gun ban.Thus, for example, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the homicide rate has been in steady decline from 1969 to the present, with only one marked uptick in 1998-99 -- right after the gun ban was enacted."My opponent is making a flawed contention by claiming it was the gun laws that lowered crime. As we have seen above, that is simply false.Concerning homicide rates, we can conclude that gun control has had little effect on Australia and a negative effect on the UK. We can conclude from this data that gun control just doesn't work.SuicidesGenerally the same thing has happened with firearm suicides. They began falling en entire decade before the buy back program began[5]. Obviously the drop in suicides isn't a result of the gun ban, but rather something else. Concerning mass shootings, it isn't that surprising that a country with 7% of people in proportion to the U.S.'s population hasn't had one in the last dozen-and-a-half years. It is a baseless assertion to credit gun laws with the lack of mass shootings, especially after seeing how ineffective it really has been on Australia's crime rates.Statistically speaking, car accidents kill more people than guns do. So according to my opponent's logic, we might as well ban cars too.Sources1. http://www.wsj.com...2. http://www.shtfplan.com...3. http://www.justfacts.com...4. http://johnrlott.blogspot.com...5. http://johnrlott.blogspot.com...