Because some confused people are suggesting that an Australian-style confiscation might be practical in the US...besides the fact that anyone trying to confiscate American guns would get themselves shot, it didn't work in Australia. As this 2011 story points out, convicted criminals have no difficulty getting guns there. Australia did see a decline in homicides after the ban -- but murders also dropped in the US at that time.
Huge black market for illegal weapons (AdelaideNow)
Motorcycle gang members and convicted criminals barred from buying guns in South Australia have no difficulty obtaining illegal firearms - including fully automatic weapons.
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Police seized a Soviet-made SKS semi-automatic rifle, a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle and an illegal silencer in raids on 11 suburban properties belonging to people associated with the Finks outlaw motorcycle club....
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Police Assistant Commissioner Grant Stevens said illegal firearms were a recurring problem.
"We have seized automatic firearms ... rifles, semi-automatics, fully automatic weapons, shotguns, cut-down firearms," he said. "There are a lot out there and, as quickly as we take them out, (criminals) are sourcing other illegal firearms."
Latest police figures show offences with firearms and other weapons increased from 3557 to 3891 in the 2010-11 financial year.
The Crime Gangs Task Force has seized more than 235 illegal firearms since it was formed about four years ago but the flow of illegal weapons continues via corrupt dealers and gun manufacturers or thefts from private homes, gunshops and even armouries.
Without proper controls at state borders, weapons stolen or manufactured interstate can easily come into South Australia, Mr Stevens said.
Adelaide University Law School lecturer Allan Perry said there could be hundreds of thousands of illegal guns circulating in the country.
"Research indicates there are about 250,000 illegal firearms nationwide; it is a very substantial problem," he said.