Churchill... Trust
by Samara McPhedran
Australian Shooters Journal
July 2005
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust was established in Australia in 1965 with the aim of funding travel-oriented research designed to contribute positively to the community. The Churchill Trust is a respected institution directed by eminent Australian citizens, and has funded a broad spectrum of research projects.
In particular, the Trust funds overseas travel; on average, each Churchill Fellow receives $20,000 to cover travel-related expenses such as airfare and accommodation. In return, the Trust requires that: “The applicant agrees to actively promote the knowledge of the aims and ideals of the Trust and to be as supportive as possible of the Trust before, during and after completion of the Fellowship.”
This is a small condition in return for what is provided by the Trust.
In 2003, Samantha Lee of the National Coalition for Gun Control (NCGC) was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to visit the UK, Canada, and the US. The culmination of her research was a report entitled ‘Handguns: laws, violence and crime in Australia’. The report can be obtained by emailing churchilltrust@bigpond.com
The report was filled with errors, oversight, misunderstandings, and statistical inaccuracies. Two short examples are given at the end of this article. Accordingly, a summary of the major flaws in Ms Lee’s report was forwarded to the Churchill Trust, so that the Trust could bring the errors to Ms Lee’s attention. The summary is available from here.
The Trust in turn provided written confirmation that they had notified the author about the concerns raised, and had forwarded her the summary of errors. However, the Trust also revealed that they had no power to do anything beyond notifying the author that errors had been detected; they did not have the authority to insist that the necessary corrections be made.
It would be reasonable to assume that Ms Lee would act honourably and make the necessary corrections before proceeding with media involvement. This did not take place.
The NCGC used the report as the basis for yet another misdirected prohibitionist campaign, with the full knowledge that there were serious inaccuracies in the research they were relying upon and citing. Their claims received national coverage. So too did the SSAA’s response. From the far reaches of the Northern Territory through to metropolitan Sydney, the public now know that the NCGC has not provided accurate information.
It is positive that both the media and the public are unwilling to accept at face value statements made by the NCGC. Clearly, careful scrutiny of their claims is every bit as necessary now as it has been in previous years.
However, the downside is that the reputation of the Churchill Trust has been treated with utter disregard by the NCGC. Given ample time and opportunity to rectify the substantial mistakes in her work, Ms Lee’s failure to do so and the NCGC’s very public actions, reflect poorly on the Churchill Trust. It is saddening that the NCGC knowingly linked the good name of the Trust with inaccurate and misleading research. It is sadder still that this disrespect was what the Trust received in thanks for their considerable financial support.
Examples of errors in Ms Lee’s Churchill Report
It is stated that:
“The study found that within this period more than 25,000 firearms were stolen with an average of 4,000 firearms annually. Twenty-one per cent of these firearms were handguns.” (p.26)
However, the figure of 21% should in fact be 14%. The reference cited with regard to handgun theft reads as follows:
“…it appears that rifles are the most common type of gun stolen in Australia, accounting for just over half of the firearms stolen (52%) (Figure 3). The second most common type of firearm stolen is shotguns (21%). While handguns were the most common type of firearm stolen in the United States, only 14 per cent of firearms stolen in Australia during the six-year period were handguns”
(Mouzos, J 2002, ‘Firearms Theft in Australia’, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 230, pp.3-4)
It is further stated that:
“Research has found that the major source for the movement of handguns into the illegal market is via theft” (p.8 and p.26)
However, no evidence is cited to support the applicability of this assertion to the Australian situation. Indeed, both Australian and international research supports the theory of multiple sources of illegal handguns. There is no comment from the author regarding why theft has been selected as the major source of illegal firearms, when evidence suggests a far broader perspective is crucial for understanding illegal handgun supply.
It is stated in Mouzos (2002), for instance, that:
“In theory, there are three major illegal sources of firearms: theft, smuggling, and illicit manufacturing.”
(Mouzos, J 2002, ‘Firearms Theft in Australia’, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 230, p.1)
See also: Dandurand, Y 1998, Firearms. Accidental Deaths, Suicides and Violent Crime: An Updated Review of the Literature with Special Reference to the Canadian Situation, Canadian Firearms Centre, Department of Justice, Ottawa.
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