Now, you know that I know and love you, and I'm not one to generally disagree with people with such strong opinions, I'd rather smile and keep walking. But at the risk of being labeled a "bleeding-heart liberal vegan" (haha)... I have to offer you the following thoughts from Australia.
The last mass shooting we had here was almost 20 years ago at Port Arthur (which was originally a penal settlement), where Martin Bryant was accused and sentenced for killing 35 people in 1996.
At that time strict gun controls came into being across our country. There was a buy back scheme put in place and an amnesty, where people were able to hand their guns in, registered or not, no questions asked. Interestingly, since this most recent tragedy, I've seen footage of some American's handing their weapons in enmass, no buy back... just handing them in. Here we now have NO access to automatic weapons in our country, and in my mind, there is no legitimate purpose for them. To have a gun license now, Australians must have a legitimate purpose to own a gun. Either a member of a sporting gun club or a property owner with livestock. Our Police and some security guards carry sidearms, but they are locked into gun safes at their place of work at the end of their shift. Possession is of a weapon (of any type) is a criminal offence here. As for our neighbors in New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea, their police don't even carry guns. I think perhaps we walk our streets here feeling much safer than most American's would, armed or not.
Our little gun control social experiment (if you'd like to look at it that way) has been a resounding success. We have had exactly NO mass shootings since gun control was put into place (mass shootings are defined by police and criminologists as 4 or more at one time) and I think that is incredibly significant. I would like to think that America would look to us as an example of the difference that can be. I certainly believe we (Australians) looked to America for what could be when our gun laws were overhauled 16 years ago. And I couldn't be more thankful for the changes that our government made at that time.
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Now, you know that I know and love you, and I'm not one to generally disagree with people with such strong opinions, I'd rather smile and keep walking. But at the risk of being labeled a "bleeding-heart liberal vegan" (haha)... I have to offer you the following thoughts from Australia.
The last mass shooting we had here was almost 20 years ago at Port Arthur (which was originally a penal settlement), where Martin Bryant was accused and sentenced for killing 35 people in 1996.
At that time strict gun controls came into being across our country. There was a buy back scheme put in place and an amnesty, where people were able to hand their guns in, registered or not, no questions asked. Interestingly, since this most recent tragedy, I've seen footage of some American's handing their weapons in enmass, no buy back... just handing them in. Here we now have NO access to automatic weapons in our country, and in my mind, there is no legitimate purpose for them. To have a gun license now, Australians must have a legitimate purpose to own a gun. Either a member of a sporting gun club or a property owner with livestock. Our Police and some security guards carry sidearms, but they are locked into gun safes at their place of work at the end of their shift. Possession is of a weapon (of any type) is a criminal offence here. As for our neighbors in New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea, their police don't even carry guns. I think perhaps we walk our streets here feeling much safer than most American's would, armed or not.
Our little gun control social experiment (if you'd like to look at it that way) has been a resounding success. We have had exactly NO mass shootings since gun control was put into place (mass shootings are defined by police and criminologists as 4 or more at one time) and I think that is incredibly significant. I would like to think that America would look to us as an example of the difference that can be. I certainly believe we (Australians) looked to America for what could be when our gun laws were overhauled 16 years ago. And I couldn't be more thankful for the changes that our government made at that time.