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Australia's Gun Problem

From The Guardian:

After 20 years, Australia's gun control debate is igniting once again

Another shocking shooting in the United States. Like most Australians, my feeling of horror is followed by a flicker of relief. Unlike the Americans, when we suffered a tragedy, we acted – we did something that made our country safer. John Howard’s political courage after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre channelled our national grief into some of the toughest gun laws in the world.

Since then there hasn’t been another massacre – as everyone from Barack Obama to John Oliver has noted. Studies have suggested that the mass gun buyback and stricter licensing rules resulted in lower rates of homicide and suicide. But while we’ve been basking in international acclamation of a policy we got right, the Australian gun lobby has been quietly scratching away at the restrictions.

This month Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm forced the Abbott government into a partial retreat on an already trumpeted ban on imports of a new rapid-action shotgun. Leyonhjelm happily boasted in the Senate that he had undertaken political “blackmail” – in return for the government’s backflip, he abandoned a plan to vote for an entirely unrelated Labor amendment that would have required an adult or guardian to be present when blood, saliva or fingerprints are taken from children by the Australia’s Border Force.
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The electorate should be ashamed to have voted in such a bunch of venal, idiotic independents. It's embarassing.
 
http://www.theguardian.com/australi...ias-gun-control-debate-is-igniting-once-again
But earlier this year the gun control lobby began raising the alarm about the imminent importation of the Adler A110 shotgun, a Turkish-made weapon capable of firing seven shots in rapid succession.
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“It would have completely undermined the National Firearms Agreement. It puts rapid-fire shotguns in the hands of the general community, which is exactly what the agreement was designed to avoid,” said Roland Browne, vice-president of Gun Control Australia.
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Completely undermined? Was the purpose of the NFA to prevent crime or just make gun ownership inconvenient?

Browne said the Adler “fell through the cracks” of the 1996 agreement because it works like a self-loading shotgun, even though technically it is not one.
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Really? A gun that requires the operator to work the action manually with the hand works just like a self-loading shotgun? The self-loading long arms I'm familiar with all use a recoil operated or gas operated mechanism to work the bolt. Pump, lever and bolt operated shotguns all use a manually operated level/slide to work the bolt. I guess if an automobile's 5-speed manual transmission is just like an automatic then a lever operated shotgun is just like a self-loading one. :)

To be fair though, lever operated shotguns like the Winchester 1887 have only been around for about 130 years.

So how is anyone able to ban importation of a lever operated shotgun even if it holds more than five rounds? They're not pump or semi-auto operated. They would not be category C or D correct?

Ranb
 
Ranb said:
Really? A gun that requires the operator to work the action manually with the hand works just like a self-loading shotgun?
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Thank you for saying this.

Once again, it has been shown well and truly that australian gun laws are created by people who watch too many 80's cop dramas.
 
devnull said:
Once again, it has been shown well and truly that australian gun laws are created by people who watch too many 80's cop dramas.
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There have been complaints on this forum that Australia imports too much American culture; it somehow being the fault of those Americans. The culture of "idiotic firearm mechanics" is one the Australians could avoid importing lest they make themselves appear to be as foolish as Carolyn (the shoulder thing that goes up) McCarthy.

WildCat said:
Lunacy.
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We thought of that silly crap too. Do pistol grips really make a semi-auto rifle more lethal? Not in my hands; and I'm a fairly good shot.

Ranb
 
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fromdownunder said:
Several years ago, my brother, who is retired but has a ten acre hobby farm got a shotgun license in two weeks to shoot feral animals. This is in Victoria. If you can demonstrate a need to own a gun, it is a remarkably easy process to get one.

With me, living in beautiful downtown Lara, with no feral animals around, and the worst risk being swooping magpies in the late spring, I cannot justify owning a gun. And I don't care.

Norm
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Seems sensible to me, and the moonbat **** crazy gunloverstanians here in America have sold me against the concept of gun rights.
 
bit_pattern said:
Or who lived through the horrific aftermath of Port Arthur.
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arthwollipot said:
For us, a horrific aftermath.
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Prompting a knee-jerk reaction that didn't have any effect on the murder rate nor did it stop mass killings.

The murder rate in the USA actually fell more than the murder rate of Australia since 1996, even as most states loosened their gun laws. But Australians assign 100% of the drop to draconian gun laws, while critical thinkers find the effect much more likely the result of the banning of leaded gasoline worldwide.
 
WildCat said:
Prompting a knee-jerk reaction that didn't have any effect on the murder rate nor did it stop mass killings.

The murder rate in the USA actually fell more than the murder rate of Australia since 1996, even as most states loosened their gun laws. But Australians assign 100% of the drop to draconian gun laws, while critical thinkers find the effect much more likely the result of the banning of leaded gasoline worldwide.
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How long till the USA murder rate reaches the Australian murder rate?
 
Yes, Port Arthur makes it acceptable to lie about the basic operation of any gun.

Wait, what?
 
tyr_13 said:
Yes, Port Arthur makes it acceptable to lie about the basic operation of any gun.

Wait, what?
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True dat. 1996 I heard from the lips of the delightful Sammy Lee that a proper hunting bullet remained undamaged and drilled a nice small hole in the meat, while an evil AR-15 military bullet spread to the size of a dinner plate
 
fromdownunder said:
With me, living in beautiful downtown Lara, with no feral animals around, and the worst risk being swooping magpies in the late spring, I cannot justify owning a gun. And I don't care.
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Not even for sporting use?

Ranb
 
Ranb said:
Not even for sporting use?

Ranb
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Not everybody is interested in sporting use. In fact, most people aren't. They own footballs and cricket bats for sports.

So no, a majority of Australians have absolutely no reason whatsoever to consider owning a gun. Those that do, the law allows for.
 
WildCat said:
Prompting a knee-jerk reaction that didn't have any effect on the murder rate nor did it stop mass killings.
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You know this is a lie. It's been pointed out to you many times. This thread is about guns. There hasn't been a mass gun killing since Port Arthur. Yes, deaths by swimming pool, golf clubs and sharks. Not guns.

The laws enacted after Port Arthur had the desired result, with most Australians very happy and a few gun nuts crying in their beer. Only to have the intent of the law watered down by an idiot Independent who nobody voted for. Shameful.
 
WildCat said:
Prompting a knee-jerk reaction that didn't have any effect on the murder rate nor did it stop mass killings.

The murder rate in the USA actually fell more than the murder rate of Australia since 1996, even as most states loosened their gun laws. But Australians assign 100% of the drop to draconian gun laws, while critical thinkers find the effect much more likely the result of the banning of leaded gasoline worldwide.
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The gun laws were designed to reduce firearm-related homicides. They were never intended as a panacea for all violent crime. The laws did what they were intended for.

http://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/4905120/data/chart3a-deaths-resulting-from-firearms-data.jpg
 
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