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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has taken a swipe at US presidential candidate Ted Cruz for claiming the rates of sexual assault and rape soared in Australia following the introduction of strict gun laws.
Mr Shorten has written directly to Senator Cruz after the conservative Christian – who is billionaire Donald Trump's closest rival for the Republican nomination – made the claims about the post-Port Arthur massacre laws earlier this month.
"As you know, Hugh, after Australia did that [gun buyback program], the rate of sexual assaults, the rate of rapes, went up significantly, because women were unable to defend themselves," he said on high-profile radio host Hugh Hewitt's show.
"There's nothing that criminals or terrorists like more than unarmed victims."
But Mr Shorten has called the claims offensive and incorrect and defended the Howard-era reforms as "indisputably the right thing to do".
"Twenty years after the chilling tragedy of Port Arthur, along with many Australians, I regard gun law reform as John Howard's finest achievement in office," he wrote.
"Contrary to your comments, reducing the number and restricting the availability of semi-automatic weapons did not lead to an increase in the rates of violent crime, rape or sexual assault."
After gunman Martin Bryant murdered 35 people and injured 23 at the former Port Arthur prison colony, a popular tourist destination, the Howard government introduced strict gun laws, including the buyback of over 600,000 firearms.
Mr Shorten urged Senator Cruz to properly study the Australian example and not misrepresent it in a "misguided defence" of the United States' gun laws, which continue to be a contentious issue ahead of the country's election later this year.
President Barack Obama and other Democrats, pointing to the rampant gun violence and regular mass shootings afflicting the country, are seeking to introduce gun control measures while the gun lobby and many Republicans defend the "right to bear arms" as enshrined in the constitution.
Gun control advocates regularly refer to Australia's reforms as an example of successful gun restrictions, and in response the NRA and other gun rights advocates have attack the laws.
Mr Shorten says "Americans deserve to know the truth that the reforms to Australia's gun laws are working and lives are being saved".
He is backed up by a Washington Post fact check that examined Senator Cruz's claim and rated it a "whopper" of a factual error.
The analysis found no significant spike or drop but a gradual increase in sexual assault rates over the decade after the 1996 changes in Australia.
The increase was likely affected by a rise in the reporting of sexual assaults and there wasn't prevalent use of handguns for self-defence before 1996, as Senator Cruz suggested, the newspaper concluded.
"The rates didn't go up 'significantly' after the buyback and there's no evidence changes to gun laws in Australia affected sexual assault rates or jeopardised the ability of women to protect themselves," the Washington Post said.
