To the Editor: In their recent article in the Journal, Wand and colleagues suggest that the medical profession should play a more active role in the regulation of firearm licences held by older Australians.1 However, the authors underestimate the rate of firearm ownership in Australia by a factor of 1000 when they state that 3.9 per 100 000 people held a firearm license in 2001. In reality, about three-quarters of a million Australians held a firearm licence in 2001.2
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- 1. Wand AP, Peisah C, Strukovski JA, Brodaty H. Firearms, mental illness, dementia and the clinician. Med J Aust 2014; 201: 674-678. <MJA full text>
- 2. GunPolicy.org. 2014. Calculated rates — Australia (possession data). Historical population data — USCB international data base. Suitland, Md: US Census Bureau Population Division, 2014. http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/citation/quotes/4201 (accessed Jan 2015).
- 3. Australian Institute of Criminology. Homicide in Australia 2010–12. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/mr/21-40/mr23/04_homicide-2010-12.html (accessed Jan 2015).
- 4. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Demographic Statistics, Jun 2014. (ABS Cat. No. 3101.0.) http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/1CD2B1952AFC5E7ACA257298000F2E76?OpenDocument (accessed Jan 2015).
I have given evidence in coronial proceedings into deaths that involve firearms.