Can you say "strict enforcement of existing laws"? Take note of the my highlighted sections, it is obvious that the purpose of these laws is not to go after violent criminals.
                   
[url]www.smh.com.au/news/0107/06/national/national1.html[/url]

Judges urged to get tough on gun offenders

                   By Robert Wainwright, State Political Correspondent

                   The State Government wants the courts to impose harsher sentences on criminals caught with guns as part of a crackdown on
                   violent crime.

                   The Attorney-General, Mr Debus, said last night he was worried that judges were not being tough enough despite new laws
                   announced in May that allow courts to impose 14-year prison terms for the worst offences.

                   Recent statistics show 96 per cent of gun offenders were escaping with sentences of less than two years. In the local court,
                   the average sentence is seven months while half of convicted gun offenders are fined an average of $400.

                   Mr Debus confirmed he had written this week to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Nicholas Cowdery, QC, requesting
                   a test case in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

                   This would enable the Government to push for a series of sentencing guidelines for courts so criminals found with guns are
                   given stiffer penalties.

                   Mr Debus will also seek co-operation from Chief Justice Jim Spiegelman
                   to find a suitable test case within the next two months.

                   [B]"It is necessary for courts to be more stringent because there are just too
                   many guns on the streets," Mr Debus said. "We want to be able to
                   respond to the problem because we don't want an American-style gun
                   culture in NSW.[/B]

                   "The courts have not been recognising the seriousness of the problem,
                   and that's why we are seeking a [B]sentencing guideline.[/B] (That means zero tolerance, get it?)

                   [B]"There are too many more guns around the community now, and we do
                   have to send stronger messages."[/B]

                   The Government revealed its intentions to impose harsher penalties while
                   announcing the Cabramatta anti-crime package on May 30.

                   [B]It has moved to transfer significant gun offences, such as possession of prohibited weapons and pistols, from magistrates to
                   judges in higher courts, where the penalties are tougher.

                   The new laws also include the compulsory registration of all firearms frames to curb the trade in trafficking of illegal firearm
                   parts, giving police the power to demand all firearms for inspection from suspected arms dealers.[/B]

                   

(continued)

The latest Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows the number of shooting crimes has risen sharply in the past few
                   years, with the number of "shoot with intent" offences involving handguns rising every year since 1995.

                   Sentencing guidelines were introduced about two years ago as a tool to allow the Government to indicate to the courts what it
                   intended to achieve with legislation.

                   The new firearm laws are the latest in a series of judgments for a number of crimes such as break enter and stealing, drug
                   importation, and driving causing grievous bodily harm or death.

                   "In each of these cases there is a quite clear-cut set of guidelines within which judges can make their decisions," Mr Debus
                   said.

                   "It is important to emphasise guidelines do not impose specific sentences on individual cases, but make a range of possibilities
                   within which judges will work.

                   "In terms of dangerous driving, it is clear the sentences that have been handed down have been much more consistent and led
                   to the jailing of almost every person who has committed this offence."

[red][u]Thanks.
[/u][/red]

It's the same old song and dance we hear here, except that they have proof that gun laws don't work, it just makes things worse.  Instead of admitting that, they are going to make more laws for the criminals to ignore.  Will these anti-gun morons ever wake up?  Since their gun ban, they have had more crime per capita than anywhere else with the exception of England with their gun ban.  This idiot Debus loves to use the old 'American Gun Culture' phrase that the anti's here love to toss around and sheeple believe, but the truth is that we are not even in the top 10.