I have seen at
times on U.S. media how American commentators who are anti-gun often lift up
Australia as a model for Americans to consider for anti-gun legislation. But
Australia is not the gun free utopia that many leftist Americans might think it
is from progressive media influence. As this Guardian report illustrates,
“Canterbury shooting: police say Sydney gun violence out of
control after man shot dead in ‘targeted homicide’
A man has died following a targeted shooting in Sydney’s
southeast overnight, sparking concern’s the city’s underworld gang war is
escalating and retaliatory gun violence is out of control in some areas.
The deputy commissioner of NSW Police, David Hudson, said
there had been a concerning increase in tit-for-tat shootings over the past few
years and police were doing everything they could to stop it.
“A few years ago, we had a lot of drive-by shootings,” he
told 2GB this morning.
Related: High-profile lawyer Mahmoud Abbas shot outside
Sydney home in ‘brazen’ attack
“That’s escalated over the last couple of years to actually
doing targeted homicides and that is of significant concern to us.”
He said there were varying motivations behind each of the
shootings but most had links to organised crime networks and Sydney’s lucrative
illicit drug trade.
“Most of the shootings that have occurred have come down to
the drug distribution networks within Sydney,” he said.”[1]
Now, don’t
get too excited by this article. It is not like many Australians live in fear
of shootings. These high rates of gun crime are generally limited to certain
areas of the major cities. Sydney is Australia’s largest city and has some very
famous precincts which are known for their criminal activities. Though not as
often, there are occasionally some high-profile shootings in rural areas as
well. However, most Australians will never see a gun brandished in anger and do
not live in fear of such an encounter.
But I
suspect, contrary to what many Australians think, nor do most Americans live in
fear of gun violence. Though I have never been to America, I have friends who
have been there, and they had no issues in their wide travels across the
nation, and they did not see many Americans living in anxiety and worry. I am
sure that gun crime is relatively concentrated in certain areas there as well.
Just as it is in Europe. It just happens that America’s population is more than
10 times that of Australia, and because American media is so influential it
gives Australians a distorted sense of danger. Though I am sure some cities in
the United States really are more of a concern.
But anyway,
here is some information for my American friends if you are told by anti-gun
Americans that Australia has gotten rid of gun crime. We have not. It is still
a big issue in certain parts of our country.
List of references
No comments:
Post a Comment