The Hon.

Robert Brown MLC

Parliament of New South Wales
Legislative Council
Shooters and Fishers Party

MEDIA RELEASE

8 April 2016

Gun Control Petition Not Backed By Evidence

NSW The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Robert Brown hit back at former Prime Minister
John Howard's plans for a petition to tighten gun control laws.
"Mr Howard's petition to tighten firearm laws is simply not backed by evidence," Mr Brown said .
Mr Brown highlighted evidence from a systematic review study in the journal Aggression and Violent
Behavior showing that there was no significant impact on firearm homicide rates by Mr Howard's gun
control measures. The study as published on March 22 .
"A recently-published systematic review study by Samara McPhedran of Griffith University showed that
there has been 'no significant impact ... on firearm homicide rates' from Mr Howard's firearm contro l laws.
"Our argument all along was that these firearm control laws and buybacks would not affect the firearm
homicide rate, and now we have the statistical evidence to prove it. It's a shame that we had to wait 20
years for the research to show we were right," he said.

"No study found statistical evidence of any significant impact of the legislative changes
on firearm homicide rates .. . Findings from this review provide insights into strategies and
policies that may, and may not, be effective for reducing lethal firearm violence. "
McPhedran, S. (2016). A systematic review of quantitative evidence about the impacts of Australian legislative reform on firearm homicide .
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 28, 64-72. doi : 10.1016/j.avb.2016 .03.012

The study can be downloaded here: http://doi.org/1 0.1 016/j.avb.2016.03.012 .

Mr Brown appeared on an SBS Insight program dedicated to firearm laws on Tuesday with Mr Howard.
"I can understand why Mr Howard wants to bring up this topic again - he wants to protect his 'legacy' , but
in reality the firearm laws are too onerous as they stand and have not lowered the firearm homicide rate.
"Law-abiding firearm owners are not the problem , criminals and illegal guns are the problem.
Mr Brown said that his party had been trying to introduce a bill to combat gun crime since 1998, but the
major parties have shied away from this reform.
"The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party in New South Wales have been trying to introduce a bill to
establish mandatory sentences for firearms used in crime , but nobody has been willing to support it for
almost 20 years."
MEDIA CONTACT:

Robert Brown MLC

Parliament House

Phone: 02 9230 3059 Fax: 02 9230 2613

Macquarie St SYDNEY NSW 2000

email: robert. brown@ parliament.nsw.gov.au

02 9230 2573