I'm doing it here in the "media and politics" forum as it's directly connected to the misinformation all the anti-gun nuts are putting out there. How they can get away with flat out lies like they are is just beyond me.
Like this for example:
Alarmingly, in 22 of the state's 600 postcodes, registered guns outnumber people.
This includes four postcodes where guns outnumber people two to one.
I picked one of the post Codes they were talking about (2878). I chose this one because it had the highest "ratio's" of guns per people (2.34)
Their reference of guns outnumbering people two to one in this instance is far far from the truth.
The postcode 2878 is in a rural area (outback NSW) and contains the townships of Beilpajah, Conoble, Ivanhoe, Manara, Mossgiel and Trida.
The population of this post code is 400 people (ABS 2006 Census) The number of Firearms Licence Holders is 115 (NSW Police FOI 05/02/2015) and the number of Firearms is 468.
Which would actually put the Ratio of firearms per people at 1.17 (NOT 2.34) and with 186 Dwellings, approximately 2.5 firearms per household which, considering the area, is no real surprise.
With just a quick Google search the last time somebody was murdered in this area was in 2008, With a knife.
My main Aim is to collect as much Data as possible and put it in one place. Either an Excel File or a web accessible Database so that people can shoot down (parden the pun) the numbnut Pollies and media organisations that just like to cherry pick the numbers that suit their needs. (has anybody ever been shot/assualted/robbed with a lever action shotgun?? )
It's going to take some time, which I don't really have a lot of, and will be primarily focused on NSW, for two reasons: Almost all of the "arguments" made by the Anti's refer to NSW, and secondly (I'll Give the NSW Police Props for this) the amount of Data available far outweighs the amount for the other States/Territories.
So far this is What I'm looking at Compiling.
Locality
Population of Locality
Number of Registered Firearms
Number of Licence Holders
Number of Robberies with a Firearm
Number of Murders with a Firearm
Numbers of robberies/murders NOT carried out with a firearm.
What I would really like is the number of firearms offences by Licensed Firearms Holders and the number of firearms offences by criminals but I don't think a simple FOI will cover that.
What I would really love is that a non-biased media organisation to pick up on this and show the people of this country that the only firearms they really need to worry about are the ones held by criminals and not the ones held by law abiding firearms holders.
Information should be a 2 way street, and it's blindingly obvious that right now it's only heading in one direction. A perfect example is the soon to be non Prime minister of this country banning the importation of a perfectly legal Shotgun due, seemingly, to nothing but Media misinformation.
My disclaimer.... I own a .22 for dog food, shopping for a centrefire for Deer. I don't want a lever action shotgun, I don't want a Semi-auto, I just want the people to know the truth. Because at the moment all they are being fed are lies.
Time is not on my side for this. Just looking at it quickly there is quite a lot of work invloved and a lot of it needs to be done manually so don't expect anything tomorrow, just know that somebody is working on it