As he notes in this episode of The Armed Citizen Podcast, Topher Field, an Australian political commentator and documentary filmmaker, spoke with us from a hotel in California. He was then at the beginning of a month-long trip across America. He had come to America on its 250th birthday to speak and meet people and to bring the message that Australia’s gun confiscation should not be used as a template for the land of the brave and the home of the free.
Mostly though, in this interview he spoke of Australia and its crime problems and how, despite the narratives to the contrary, gun-control laws have not made his nation safer.
As John Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, explained it recently, both Australia and the United States use “large-scale surveys that estimate total crime, not just crimes reported to police. The Australian Bureau of Statistics runs such a survey annually. In the United States, the Bureau of Justice Statistics conducts the National Crime Victimization Survey, which surveys about 240,000 people each year. When we compare these broader estimates, Australia’s rape and sexual assault rate is roughly three times higher than that of the United States. Australia’s assault rate is about twice as high, and its burglary rate is about 2.5 times higher. Robbery is the only category where the two countries report similar rates.”
To give this statistical point more clarity, Topher cites recent examples and uses his personal experience to explain what it is like to be largely disarmed as a law-abiding Australian in a nation in which the criminal class is far from disarmed.
“I’m actually quite optimistic that we are at an inflection point [in Australia],” said Topher Field. “There is a turning of the tide happening right now, and we can see it in political opinion polls … . There is definitely a tone shift that is happening in Australia.”
To give this context, Topher later explained: “There are now over four million guns owned legally in Australia. So, to own a gun in Australia, you have to apply for a license. You have to give them a lawful excuse that you own property and you need it for feral animals and pests. Self-defense does not qualify. If you put self-defense down on your application, not only will you not get your license, you’ll probably be barred for life.”
Topher then gave examples of recent violent crimes in Australia, including a terrorist attack, and discussed one example in which a homeowner with a gun actually managed to adhere to all of Australia’s gun-control laws—keeping his long gun locked separately from ammunition and much more—yet still managed to use it to stop a person from murdering him and his wife. The government, of course, came down hard on the legal gun owner, even though the homeowner did not shoot the attacker. Topher cites this as an example of crimes that are waking up a lot of Australians.
“I do think we’re watching a turning point happen in Australia right now,” said Topher. “Many more Australians are coming to be sympathetic with the American point of view.”
You can find out more about Topher Field on his website, which has links to his videos, his documentary and much more.
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