I've owned guns since I was eighteen, and learned to shoot and respect guns long before that.
One of the things I also learned; that guns on their own, harm nobody and nothing.
It's the finger on the trigger that does all the harm, particularly if that finger is attached to a nutter like Bryant!
Massacres are not committed by sane people and the law abiding simply do not go round murdering people,even if they own a dozen firearms.
During the second world war, the Swiss were not attacked, which as revealed by captured Nazi intell, was due to the fact it was a virtual armed camp.
And there is no correlation between the number of guns owned and gun crimes!
In my father's day every home had several guns.
People were trained to respect them and their lethal aspects from a very early age.
And I'm fairly certain the pro rata gun crime rate was lower then than now.
And semi automatics are not as bad as they are made out to be by the sensation seeking!
In order to kill a gun must be aimed accurately at a vital area and the trigger squeezed. That means a bolt action in practiced hands could be even more lethal and from a greater distance, than a less accurate auto!
What is not improved by their banning is the ability of the professional to cull rapidly moving feral animal populations, given the only effective weapon is an auto that enables a humane kill on every occasion, with two in the chest or torso, and immediately the animal is down, one in the brain pan.
And then we wounder why the country is now being overrun by wild dogs, feral pigs, deer, goats, camels and donkeys; and at vastly greater risk of foot and mouth epidemics, or mad cow disease etc/etc.
As usual the entirely ignorant gun hating do-gooders, do more harm than good!
Rhrosty.

The author is so far out of touch that he wrote "..... But before he [John Howard] left, he did something universally popular: he tightened gun control so much that we rarely hear now of gun-related crime."

Obviously the author doesn't read or watch the local news.
Drive by shooting is so common now in Western Sydney that single shots no longer make the news.

I wonder did he see any of the adds for "Underbelly" that recent Australian TV glorification of crime.

"As far as criminal geniuses go, Leslie “Squizzy” Taylor was a great publicist. He'd struggle to make a list of this country's top 100 crime brains but he mastered the dark arts of self-promotion, the first in a long line of "celebrity" crooks, even before Hollywood created the gangster template".

http://smh.fairfaxbenefits.com.au/ebooks/the-real-squizzy-taylor/01/index.html

The author is a bit weak on history as well.

Paul, your letter is well-intended but the people who are going to read it are as dumb as a bag full of pick handles.

They are currently trying to balance their books and they have been forced to use all their fingers and toes! If they get their books to balance, then they will start on another war, perhaps in Iran.

Violence has been part of the American Way ever since they slaughtered all the Native Indians. They tried the same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan but the wily buggers hid themselves so the slaughter was not as effective as usual.

I hope your son can grow up to be peaceable unlike the Yanks. Rootin', tootin' and shootin' is their raison de etre, lawdy, lawdy, keep the powder dry!

They also don't mind a bit of rendition and torture either or burning people with white Phosphorous and depleted uranium, yeehah!

I never had much of an opinion about guns however having seen the violent cretins attack the anti baby murder protest in Melbourne the other day and the useless police presence it makes me wonder whether decent people need them.

>>it makes me wonder whether decent people need them.<<

Nah, only psychopaths need guns.

Decent people are happy to dispatch evil with water, silver, a crucifix and the Holy Word.

Be very, very afraid of anybody who says they need a gun to dispatch evil.

Cheers,

Tony

Oh don't worry Runner, plenty of anti-abortion protesters have killed others in the name of the cause. Violence like that is commonplace in the US 'Bible Belt'.

I loved this article. The author has hit the nail on the head in his thoughts on gun control in Australia, and the uncontrollable guns in the US.

Is Mise, no matter how much 'Underbelly style' murders we have here in Australia, they absolutely pale in comparison to the US murder-by-gun stats.

We don't want that lifestyle here, so we need to keep the current strict gun laws, and in fact restrict gun ownership even further.

Anyone who likes the thought of everyone carrying a metal killing machine on their person should consider a move to the US...