I want gun ownership abolished in this country, gradually, through an elimination of sales, a prohibition on gifting and leaving operable firearms to next of kins, buy back programs, the confiscation of firearms from people who express violent intent and posturing and the wholesale destruction of every firearm used in a crime.
As for the evidence that gun control and restricting access to firearms is the solution to lowering murder and violent crime, well just look to every other developed nation on Earth.
Australia
Ms Mallet said she believed the types of offences associated with gang-related crime in Australia had shifted in recent years.
'We're seeing people being shot in the street, total disregard for the public, for families,' she said.
'I think the police are concerned about the different types of violence because the rule book seems to have been thrown out with some of these organised gangs.'
Ms Mallet said the alleged kidnapping of Mr Vuong was 'very frightening'.
'I'm sure that everybody in Sydney and especially that neighbourhood is going to be thrown by this,' she said.
A number of high-profile gang-related crimes have dominated the news in the past 12 months, including the
brutal execution-style shooting of celebrity chauffer Taha Sabbagh less than two weeks ago.
Crime expert compares bloodshed on Australia's streets to Brazil
9/3/22
It's a portrait of the average Australian who operates in the country's illegal firearms market, built from the findings of a 2022 Deakin University study.
In the study, criminology professor David Bright and his colleagues conducted 75 interviews with prisoners across 16 correctional facilities comprising drug traffickers, members of organised crime gangs and armed robbers.
The researchers were attempting to build a picture of the illegal gun trade in the Australian underworld.
They found buying an illegal gun in Australia could be as easy as a trip to the supermarket for those in the know.
Figures show a deep reservoir of illegal firearms exists for criminals to tap into, with police measures only able to recover tiny fractions each year.
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Professor Bright said most of the interviewees came from backgrounds where criminal behaviour and access to guns were the norm.
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"Some of the stories were shocking, I suppose, in the sense of the violence that some of these men had either experienced or had engaged in using guns," Professor Bright said.
"The other surprising thing was just how easily some of these men were able to access firearms."
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The source of illegal firearms
The Deakin University study identified the main ways illegal firearms were procured in Australia.
Very few criminals interviewed spoke of obtaining weapons through the internet or "dark web", with them instead preferring to rely on personal connections.
Guns are commonly obtained from friends and family, as well as from deals where a trusted party has vouched for the potential buyer.
One prisoner was given guns on the condition that he attacked certain people to earn them.
"I had to do two things to get the guns, but that was simple so I didn't really have to do much," they said.
"I just had to shoot at people … I didn't care … I was getting free guns out of it."
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Police use firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) to ban people they believe are linked to organised crime from coming into contact with guns.
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In 2019 — the year after FPOs were introduced — Victoria recorded a nine-year high in firearm assault deaths.
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The latest figures from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) estimate there are at least 260,000 illegal firearms circulating in Australia.
In its report, it states the number of illegal firearms could be as high as 600,000 if estimation methods from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime were used.
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It means the seizures represent just a fraction of a percentage of Australia's illegal firearms market. And for those convicted of serious gun-related crimes in SA and NSW, not much has changed.
The insular nature of the illegal firearms market has led to increased caution among criminals when trafficking and carrying firearms, but the ease of access remains the same.
"Honestly, the access is pretty easy. I could get access to a gun within an hour of walking out of jail … no problem at all," one prisoner said in the Deakin report.
Paper linked to in above article....
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01639625.2022.2086838
As Melbourne and Sydney reel from inner-city shootings, researchers look to trace where the guns are coming from
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More on the 9/3/22 topic.....from above...
He said some of the interviewees spoke of illegal firearm suppliers having "huge caches" of guns, including pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles.
Buying illegal guns 'surprisingly easy' for underworld figures, research finds
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1/6/22
The modus operandi of the hitmen contracted to take out Hamzy associates is to sneak up on the target - often in a public place - and pepper them with bullets.
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OCTOBER 18, 2020 - Rafat Alameddine's former home is shot up in a drive-by shooting
OCTOBER 19, 2020 - Mejid Hamzy is shot dead in Condell Park
JANUARY 30, 2021 - Mustafa Naaman is shot dead in Hurstville in a suspected mistaken identity attack on Ibrahem Hamze
JANUARY 30, 2021 - Mejed Derbas is shot dead in Smithfield
FEBRUARY 15, 2021 - Bilal Hamze's mother Maha Hamze comes under gunfire again in another drive-by shooting at her home in Auburn
MARCH 12, 2021 - A home linked to the Alameddine family in Guildford is shot up
AUGUST 6, 2021 - Alameddine low-level associate Shady Kanj is shot in Chester Hill and found dead by police in Guildford
AUGUST 14, 2021 - Police foil alleged gangland hit on Ibrahim Hamze when they spot stolen Mercedes in North Sydney
OCTOBER 20, 2021 - Salim and Toufik Hamze are gunned down outside their home in Guildford
NOVEMBER 10, 2021 - Drive-by shooting at Guildford home of Alameddine associate. No-one is hurt
JANUARY 6, 2022 - Brother of Bassam Hamzy, Ghassan Amoun, is shot dead at 35 years of age in a brazen daylight execution as he sat in a BMW outside an apartment building in Western Sydney.
How cops made a chilling prediction before crime boss brother killed
New article 9/1/20
Gun violence grips Victoria as deadly shootings double
More than 14 hardened criminals are being found in possession of firearms each week as the state grapples with a rising gun culture that has led to twice as many Victorians shot dead in 2019.
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Anti-gangs division Detective Superintendent Peter Brigham said illegal firearms were routinely unearthed at the homes of drug traffickers and in the possession of “gangster types” chasing image and status.
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In September, a 35-year-old Docklands man was sentenced to at least eight years' jail for heroin trafficking. As part of his plea deal, the former Iraqi national led police to a cache of weapons wrapped in plastic and hidden in a Melbourne drain. They included an SKS assault rifle and grenades.
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And while handguns were proving to be the gun of choice among young men, high powered military-grade firearms were in demand from the city’s outlaw motorcycle gangs
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Gun city: Young, dumb and armed
The notion that a military-grade weapon could be in the hands of local criminals is shocking, but police have already seized at least five machine guns and assault rifles in the past 18 months. The AK-47 was not among them.
Only a fortnight ago, law enforcement authorities announced they were hunting another seven assault rifles recently smuggled into the country. Weapons from the shipment have been used in armed robberies and drive-by shootings.
These are just a handful of the thousands of illicit guns fuelling a wave of violent crime in the world’s most liveable city.
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Despite Australia’s strict gun control regime, criminals are now better armed than at any time since then-Prime Minister John Howard introduced a nationwide firearm buyback scheme in response to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
Shootings have become almost a weekly occurrence, with more than 125 people, mostly young men, wounded in the past five year
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While the body count was higher during Melbourne’s ‘Underbelly War’ (1999-2005), more people have been seriously maimed in the recent spate of shootings and reprisals.
Crimes associated with firearm possession have also more than doubled, driven by the easy availability of handguns, semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and, increasingly, machine guns, that are smuggled into the country or stolen from licensed owners.
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These weapons have been used in dozens of recent drive-by shootings of homes and businesses, as well as targeted and random attacks in parks, shopping centres and roads.
“They’re young, dumb and armed,” said one former underworld associate, who survived a shooting attempt in the western suburbs several years ago.
“It used to be that if you were involved in something bad you might have to worry about [being shot]. Now people get shot over nothing - unprovoked.”
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Gun crime soars
In this series, Fairfax Media looks at Melbourne’s gun problem and the new breed of criminals behind the escalating violence.
The investigation has found:
- There have been at least 99 shootings in the past 20 months - more than one incident a week since January 2015
- Known criminals were caught with firearms 755 times last year, compared to 143 times in 2011
- The epicentre of the problem is a triangle between Coolaroo, Campbellfield and Glenroy in the north-west, with Cranbourne, Narre Warren and Dandenong in the south-east close behind
- Criminals are using gunshot wounds to the arms and legs as warnings to pay debts
- Assault rifles and handguns are being smuggled into Australia via shipments of electronics and metal parts
In response to the violence, it can be revealed the state government is planning to introduce new criminal offences for drive-by shootings, manufacturing of firearms with new technologies such as 3D printers, and more police powers to keep weapons out of the hands of known criminals.
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The second part of the series....
Gun city: Gunslingers of the North West
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'Thousands' of illegal guns tipped to be handed over in firearms amnesty
Asked roughly how many he expected to be handed in, Mr Keenan said: "Look I certainly think the number will be in the thousands."
The Australian Crime Commission estimated in 2012 there were at least 250,000 illegal guns in Australia. But a Senate report noted last year it was impossible to estimate how many illicit weapons are out there.
And despite Australia's strict border controls, the smuggling of high-powered military-style firearms is also a growing problem.
www.kff.org
everytownresearch.org
www.nichd.nih.gov
