| > It's entirely possible that the further drop could be due to Australia's 1996 gun law. Since the trendline is basically the same until it tapers off around 2003, it's hard to say; but since the trend is identical (and identically noisy) before and after 1996, it is unlikely it had any effect. You would expect an increase in the trend if it did. Especially when you compare this to the identical trend in the U.S.[0] and Canada[1] at the time, it's hard to make a case that any effect was experienced. Homicide in western countries just sorta trended downward since the mid '80s until the early 0ughts. See: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/compareyears/10/rate_of_gu... Or more importantly, see: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/compareyears/10/rate_of_ho... [0]: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/compareyears/194/rate_of_h... [1]: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/compareyears/31/rate_of_ho... |