Hey guys
Ever since I became a licensed shooter
So many people always told me that I've gotta keep quiet the fact that I am a licensed firearms owner this way I dont make myself a target for thieves etc
Which is fair enough, it's completely understandable
I always appreciated the advice
Out of curiosity though
I decided to do some research into this and I wanted to look at what the actual numbers and statistics were in terms of firearm thefts in Australia
I'll talk about my own state here the State of Victoria
(As that's what's most relevant to me obviously)
In Victoria, from the research that I have done, there seems to be AT LEAST around 100,000x licensed firearm owners here (AT LEAST)
Out of those 100,000x licensed firearm owners, in 2018, only around 200x of them were targeted by thieves and had their firearms stolen
(That 200x yearly number seems to be more or less constant every year)
200x people out of 100,000x people, that works out to be around 0.2% of licensed firearm owners that are targeted by thieves each year for their firearms here in Victoria
Technically speaking
If you were to look at the pure statistics only, you only have a 0.2% chance of being targeted by thieves for your firearms if you live in Victoria
(As only 0.2% of licensed firearm owners have their firearms stolen each year here in Victoria)
And for someone like me who lives in Metropolitan Melbourne
The chances of being robbed for your firearms seem to be even lower
Out of those 200x people that have their firearms stolen every year in Victoria
Only one third of those 200x thefts happens in Metropolitan Melbourne (around 66x people)
66x people out of 100,000x people, that works out to be a 0.07% chance of having your firearms stolen if you live in Metropolitan Melbourne
(If we were to look at the pure statistics alone)
We still have to be cautious of course but I found those numbers and those statistics to be very re-assuring
Interesting facts also;
- the vast majority of firearm thefts occur in residential houses
- in Victoria, the majority of firearm thefts occur in regional Victoria
- in Victoria, the vast majority of firearm thefts are classified as "unlawful entry with intent"
- in Victoria, armed robbery specifically targeting firearm owners is extremely extremely rare, only 2%
- whenever firearm thefts do occur, the vast majority of the time, the thieves use "force/tools" to get into the actual house
- whenever firearm thefts do occur, it seems to be pretty spread out about how the thieves actually steal the firearms
(between using force or tools to opening the safe or locating the key or ripping the entire safe off the wall)
Source:
https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/fi ... a_2018.pdf(Australian Institute of Criminology)