Significant quotes of 1996
“We’re opposed to a gun register because it simply wouldn’t work. It’s hard enough to get people who’ve got guns to take out a licence. To persuade them to register each of their firearms would be just as big a difficulty.”
Robert Carr, NSW Premier
‘Gun Control - The Facts’, January 1996
Dr Weatherburn said NSW trends reflected recent British research which showed assault rates rise and fall in line with the level of beer consumption in the community.
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics
Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 10 April 1996
“The homicide rate should fall under tighter gun laws provide they were adequately enforced.”
Dr Don Weatherburn, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics
The Australian, 11 May 1996
“The gun lobby doesn’t deal in facts”.
John Laws
Daily Telegraph, 22 May 1996
“There is clear worldwide evidence if you reduce the access to the means of suicide, you reduce significantly the rate of suicide.”
Professor Yellowlees, Queensland University Psychology Department
23 May 1996
Between 10,000 and 14,000 Australian patients died in hospitals from preventable causes each year, a leading intensive care physician said yesterday.
Professor Ken Hillman, Liverpool Hospital Sydney
The Advertiser, 25 May 1996
Britain’s Firearm Consultative Committee came to the depressing conclusion last week that nothing it had suggested to the Government since being set up eight years ago could have prevented the Dunblane massacre.
Canberra Times, 30 May 1996
“Anything that kills 500-plus people a year is a very legitimate cause for doctors to be involved in.”
The doctor was talking about guns - not the 18,000 plus deaths a year in hospitals.
John Emery, AMA South Australia President
The Advertiser, May 1996
Deputy Prime Minister Fischer comments on media portrayal of firearm owners, “Unfairly besmirched”
Tim Fischer, Deputy Prime Minister
The Daily Mercury, 6 June 1996
Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer yesterday called upon people who support tougher gun laws to write to politicians urging them to withstand pressure from the gun lobby.
The West Australian, 24 June 1996
“If the States and Territories refuse to rule out crimping, then the PM should do the right thing and call a referendum.”
Nick Bolkus, Labor Justice Spokesman
The Advertiser, 17 July 1996
“The States have been magnificent in their efforts to achieve better gun laws. Their contribution to making our country safer has been - and I’m sure will continue to be - massive.”
“It’s time to bite the bullet and take a stand so Australia does not go down the path of the US with its gun culture.”
John Howard, Prime Minister
Sunday Telegraph, NSW, 21 July 1996
“It is a fact that the majority of gun owners in both urban and rural areas support these reforms.”
Daryl Williams, Federal Attorney-General
AMA Seminar, September 1996
“Under the terms of the current amnesty on illegal firearms, nobody will be prosecuted for handing in unregistered weapons.”
Karen Cleave, Director Buyback Victoria
Maryborough Advertiser, 12 November 1996
“A complete cock-up”
On being issued a firearm licence with another persons picture upon it.
Bob Perry, South Australian firearms owner
The Advertiser, 30 November 1996
New legislation banning semiautomatic weapons will do nothing to prevent the vast majority of gun deaths, according to Australia’s senior crime researcher. “The legislation won’t do it, nor was it designed to do it.”
Dr Adam Graycar, Australian Institute of Criminology
The Australian, 9 December 1996
Mr O’Connor received $3,950 compensation for three banned firearms - which he topped up to buy three under-and-over shotguns for $7,000.
Gerald Sun Melbourne, 13 December 1996
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