by Ted Drane

About the author: Ted Drane writes for SSAA, a monthly gun advocacy journal published by the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia.

The United States of America is usually put forward as the extreme case of private possession of firearms causing high crime and murder rates. “We don’t want it to get like it is in America” is a predictable cry amongst politicians and the media.

The USA is linked to the gun and portrayed as the murder center of the world despite the fact that Mexico, its nearest neighbor to the south, has very strict gun laws and also a much higher murder rate. The reality is that many parts of the USA have very low murder rates and many of these have both liberal gun...