Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumPort Arthur massacre lead to brave decision
And surely it was not that long ago that MPs in the new Howard Government took the brave decision to risk their own seats in parliament to fight for tighter gun control across the country.
Its even harder to believe, however, that a country like America is still waiting for its own Port Arthur moment.
A rabid gun lobby, backed by financial and political power, retains its tight grip on public policy in America, so much so that even Barack Obama a staunch supporter of tighter gun controls has been unable to change the culture or the law.
http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story/3853447/howards-control-saved-many-lives/?cs=117
TeddyR
(2,493 posts)But I don't think President Obama has ever called for the type of confiscation/bans that were enacted in Australia. People can tout Australia's gun laws all they want but it isn't going to happen here. Get back to me when you have the political capital to repeal the Second Amendment. So long as that constitutional protection is in place there is no need for anyone to worry about any sort of confiscation.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)of places that "crafted laws".
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)Howard never believed people should own guns, and the opposition parties, Labour and Greens, generally agreed. MPs didn't vote on it, since Australia really doesn't have any federal gun laws. What the National Firearms Agreement did do was make state laws uniform and to what Howard wanted. Howard and his cabinet told states that pass it or else lose federal funding. States acted after months of government propaganda pushed by government owned media like ABC. Opposition was small mostly because Australia doesn't have that many gun owners per capita and, quite frankly, were not allowed to speak out.
Fact is, Howard didn't save any lives. There were just as many mass shootings as before, still mass murders by arson, gang drive bys.
Men like Tim Fischer and John Anderson had the task of convincing their constituents many of them farmers who needed their guns that the government was not unfairly targeting them, and that the new gun laws were for the benefit of all Australians.
He was unfairly targeting target shooters and farmers, they are the only ones affected. Biker gangs making their own machine guns are not affected. Neither are drug dealers.
Marengo
(3,477 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Yes, Martha, other nations and cultures are that way, too.