The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Inc. said today that a recent claim put forward by Coalition for Gun Control spokesperson Samantha Lee, on Sydney radio station 2GB stating that “most of our violent crime in Australia is committed by licensed shooters” was at odds with published Australian Institute of Criminology figures showing that legitimate gun-owners are involved in less than 10 per cent of firearm-related homicides. SSAA spokesperson Mr Gary Fleetwood, said that the particular AIC report Ms Lee referred to during her interview with radio host Philip Clark stated that between July 1997 and June 1999 not one handgun used in a homicide was registered.
Mr Fleetwood went on to say that Ms Lee had clearly failed to do her homework before the interview “The facts on violent crime are well known and freely available from a range of government sources. It appears that in her rush to blame the criminal misuse of firearms on sporting shooters Samantha has ignored some important data.”
Mr Fleetwood said that the well documented failure of Britain's 1997 ban on handguns proved that penalizing law-abiding firearm-owners was not the way to tackle violent crime “Everyone from the Attorney-General to the policeman on the street knows that the nub of the problem is Australia's burgeoning drug culture and the gang-related crime that accompanies it. It's very heartening to finally see the government ignoring the anti-gun lobby's agenda and getting to grips with the real issues.”