The proud claim that Australia may have “solved the gun problem” might only be a temporary illusion. In recent years, arms dealers have imported more guns than ever before. And last year we crossed a symbolic threshold: for the first time in 20 years, Australia’s national arsenal of private guns is larger than it was...

In the frustrating struggle to identify gun killers in advance, we could have been looking in the wrong place. By accepting the common mantra that law-abiding, licensed firearm owners are not the problem, many have chased popular fears such as mental illness and violent video games. Research now shows that far more frequently, perpetrators share...

Of 130 victims shot dead, 56% were killed by a licensed gun owner. Most were shot by a killer with no previous history of violent crime or mental illness. All the perpetrators were men.

Recent headlines are clear: our world is a fearful place, spattered with blood, angry men and loose guns. But not everywhere. One sprawling region has largely avoided, and at times even reversed, the steady proliferation of illegal firearms and death by gunshot. Twelve out of 16 Pacific Islands Forum nations are patrolled by routinely unarmed...

Australia's massive experiment in gun control saw a million firearms, or one third of the nation's private arsenal destroyed, then a million new, but different guns imported. Sixteen years after firearm laws were tightened, gun homicide remains 50-60% lower, and the nation has not seen another mass shooting.