Written by Malcolm Roberts and John Lott, Jr., the report begins by explaining that the establishment media's approach to coverage and the method of compiling crime stats leads many to believe Australia's "crime rate is low compared with the countries like the United States."

The media "reinforces the myth" of lower crime while less than 20 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to Australian police. However, in the U.S.,  45 percent of such personal crimes are reported to police. This difference in the level of personal crime reporting skews the figures seen by the populations of both countries and feeds into the establishment media's low-crime narrative.

After a hard look at the real numbers, Roberts and Lott wrote: "Australia's rape and sexual assault rate is roughly three times higher than that of the United States. Australia's assault rate is about twice as high, and its burglary rate is about 2.5 times higher. Robbery is the only category where the two countries report similar rates."

They went back nearly a decade, to the year 2000, to contrast those findings with the numbers of today and found similar data:

The International Crime Victimization Survey used consistent definitions and methods across countries. Even in 2000, it found Australia's violent crime rate (including robbery, sexual incidents, assaults, and threats) was 104 per cent higher than in the United States. Robbery was 150 per cent higher, sexual assaults 167.9 per cent higher, and assaults and threats 72.3 per cent higher.

Commenting on the higher level of personal crimes in Australia, Roberts and Lott remind readers: "In practice, Australians cannot use guns for self-defense." But citizens of the U.S. can use guns for self-defense and do so at least "five times more frequently to stop crimes than criminals use guns to commit them."

But Australia goes beyond virtually banning guns for self-defense. "Australian law [also] prohibits people from carrying pepper spray or mace for protection…[and] bars individuals from carrying knives for self-defense."

Roberts and Lott posit the caveat that a knife is less likely than a gun to help to a woman, as she would have to let attacker get so close, in order to use the knife, that he would likely be able to overpower her.