15 Things to Know About Australia's Incredibly Effective Gun Clampdown

[Botany]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/15-things-to-know-about-australia-s-incredibly-effective-gun-clampdown-20121218

* It came out of tragedy. In April 1996, a disturbed 28-year-old man named Martin Bryant killed 35 people with a semi-automatic rifle in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur.

* It moved public opinion. In the wake of the shooting, “a national upwelling of grief and revulsion saw pollsters reporting 90–95% public approval for stringent new gun laws.”


* A conservative politician took the lead. Australia’s conservative Prime Minister John Howard spearheaded a push by Australian states and territories to severely restrict gun ownership that year, in what came to be known as the National Firearms Agreement.


* It targeted the kinds of guns used in massacres. “As the Port Arthur gunman and several other mass killers had used semi-automatic weapons, the new gun laws banned rapid-fire long guns, specifically to reduce their availability for mass shootings.”

[Logical]

1. No poll here would show those numbers. nt

[Botany]

3. Since Australia passed these laws they have had zero mass shootings

But I agree w/ Michael Moore that this shooting will be the last one in America until
the next happens and it will because we refuse to do anything.

[Logical]

6. What could you do? Too many guns and millions sold a month. nt

[derby378]

12. Mexico has gun laws similar to Australia's

How's that been working out for them?

If it works in Australia, let them keep it. I'll pass.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. That's Australia, where public opinion...

drove the effort. And they don't have a 2nd Amendment to get in the way.

Here, ain't gonna happen for a while. Maybe more assholes carrying guns into IHOP will wake up the public, but it will still take a while.

[gcomeau]

7. It doesn't matter how many massacres occur...

...as long as the NRA continues to get away with responding by telling people that the solution is to hand out more guns to everyone so they can stop the next bad man with a gun, and having people treat that like it's a actual serous statement worthy of consideration.


Never mind that that also happens to be creating many more bad men with guns... and that they know when they're going to start shooting and you don't... and that even a lot of good guys with guns will end up doing more harm than good in most situations like that since they don't have the training to deal with it appropriately and just waving a gun around at things that threaten you isn't actually a very effective response most of the time if what you want it a lower body count...

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Body counts are news and don't personally affect...

most people, so the propaganda flows freely.

But yer typical Mom taking her kids into a Chuck E. Cheese loaded with assholes loaded for bear makes it up close and personal.

[woodsprite]

11. Or until we have some Open Carry-Stand Your Ground wars going on

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/stupidity-gun-fanatics-stand-ground-collides-open-carry/

[jeff47]

13. Actually, they have something very 2nd amendment like.

Their federal government is forbidden from regulating firearms. This "national" effort had to be enacted by Australia's states.

[factsarenotfair]

4. They might have decided to commit national suicide with climate change instead of guns.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2014/may/26/carbon-price-abolish-tony-abbott-australia

[Lee-Lee]

5. There are also reports of massive noncompliance

I will look later and see if I can find it, but the totals turned in were far less than registered imports in the decade prior.

And also reports that outside the big cities the Australian police essentially turn a blind eye to people having them.

I'll dig later and find where I saw it. I know the report of police attitudes was a post on an LE forum I used to frequent.

[jeff47]

15. That's fine.

The non-compliant have to hide away their guns to keep them from being seized. That makes those guns less available for shootings.

Fact is, shootings have plummeted in Australia since the ban came into effect. It doesn't have to be perfect in order to be effective.

[hack89]

8. There is no legal impediment to the same laws being passed here

it is a political and cultural issue.

[JJChambers]

19. Will never happen here

They couldn't cram through a new assault weapons ban in the immediate aftermath of Newtown when emotion and support for such measures peaked. It simply isn't going to happen and we are wasting our breath trying.

It's better to focus on things we can improve: socioeconomic conditions for our inner cities, where most of our gun violence occurs; mental health services to reduce spree shooters and the biggest cause of gun deaths: suicide.

[NightWatcher]

10. there are 22 million people in Australia, and 315 million in America

If we were able to make 90% of the people turn in their weapons (as are guesses on Australian compliance to the ban), that would still leave 30 million guns in circulation, and by people who were acting in nature against the law. So we'd have a subculture of Americans possessing illegal firearms. The black market would see a huge increase in violence, as does every other prohibition (see drugs, alcohol...)

It simply would not work. It would be great if it did, but we all know that a large percentage of gun owners would refuse to turn int heir weapons. Everyone says, "I'll turn in my gun when everyone else does" and no one would go first.

[jeff47]

14. That's fine.

If we were able to make 90% of the people turn in their weapons (as are guesses on Australian compliance to the ban), that would still leave 30 million guns in circulation, and by people who were acting in nature against the law.

That's fine.

Those guns would be stashed away, in order to protect them from prying law enforcement eyes. That "stashing" would also make those guns far less available to be used in massacres.

[Captain Stern]

16. The most important of the 15 is the level of support.

Australia passed it's strict gun control laws with 90-95% support.

Here, only about 50% favor enacting any new gun control laws. Even right after the Sandy Hook massacre that number only got up to 55%.

[Jenoch]

17. I wonder how many billions of dollars an Austrailian like

confiscation of guns would cost in the U.S.?

[jeff47]

18. Wow is #15 stupid.

It probably won’t work in the US. “Three reasons why gun buybacks in the United States have apparently been ineffective: (a) the buybacks are relatively small in scale (b) guns are surrendered voluntarily, and so are not like the ones used in crime; and (c) replacement guns are easy to obtain. These factors did not apply to the Australian buyback, which was large, compulsory, and the guns on this island nation could not easily be replaced.”

So they spend the previous 14 points describing what Australia changed in order to get the program to work, then they declare it won't work in the US because those changes have not already been done.