oh dear reality is just so inconvenient at times isn't.
Pre-change
Mass shootings 1 every couple of years.
Post-change
Mass shootings zero.
Hard to walk past that.
As a life long shooter and farmer there is no need to have semi or fully automatic firearms anyway.
I would ask anybody reading this to watch the daily shows treatment of the subject including an interview with John Howard.

America is awash with guns, with the kill-crazy gun freaks demanding even more freedom for gunnies to arm up. 10,000 Americans are shot dead by other Americans per annum. Adjusted for population size, that would equate to 700 Australians shot dead by other Australians every year. Say the annual death toll of fourteen Port Arthurs in the lethal propagandists’ sights.

The nut cases in America are so scared of the prospect of legal restraint that they have been emptying the shelves of the gun sellers. Their constant refrain is “Everyone tool up and everyone will be safer”. Yet the Americans know better than to let anyone enter a federal facility (e.g. the White House) or a passenger aircraft carrying a gun! We know better still – since Howard’s assault on the gun crazies you can’t even walk gun-hung into a service station. We’ll do best not to listen to the deceptively titled “Liberal Democrats”.

in japan/ONE DAY GOVT CAME FOR THE SAMURI SWORDS
MANY COLLECTABLE SWORDS GOT SCRAPPED BY IGNORANTS

fleeced of their inheritance/many swords..melted into cheap toys
all for industrialisation..in the name of serving the war machine its scraps

anyhow they took my guns by armed force/8 thugs
stole 8000..dollars of collectable arms..and jailed me 3 months for the privledge..8000 dollars then=24 thousand today..the truth about guns sales is govt looted our assets/investments..and instALED A LICENCE AGREEMENT..TO ALLOW GOVT TO CONTROL PEOPLE..and assets strip the peoples wealth..to those looting our common wealth into a taX FREE FUND IN SOME TAx haven

dont remind me govt declared war on me just to loot my investments
8000 spending money into 3 months jail..yep only in australia..the land of ozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..home on the beurocratic freelunch*

tax deductions to investers
HOMELESS SERFDOM TO THE PEO.. DISARMED THEM..
AND NUMBED DOWN THIER BRAINS WITH..FLEURIDE/and other sickness

next they outlaw..art..then take ya god
do as your told..ask why public servants need wear guns..[intImIDATION.THAT THEY 0BEY UNLAWFULL ORDER*..[i want my arms back/and my freedoms..]..the rum corpse has declared a real war on me personally.

Well done Senator, again. If you were in Victoria you would get my vote. No one has mentioned the 30 plus people killed in Melbourne's drug war? That's because criminals are entitled to carry guns as evidenced by the fact that they do not get heavy sentences when caught with a firearm.
I was another who gave in my guns rather than face the sleazy public servants with their no work, high pay, and we do not pay tax mentality.
I wish you well Senator get drugs and guns legalised. With mandatory sentences for criminals with guns and hospitalisation of people with mental problems. Keep these poor and afflicted people and the rest of us safe.

Plenty of ignorance displayed in such a short article. Congratulations David.

“The inescapable conclusion is that something other than gun laws is likely to be driving the merciful absence of mass shooting events in both countries.”

The inescapable conclusion David is that you are clearly ignorant about numbers. Australia has more than 5 times the population of New Zealand. So it is impossible to conclude anything about the rates being zero in both countries.

“The ongoing costs of running the firearms registration systems are unknown but have been estimated at around $28 million per year, or $75,000 per day. That's more than what the average Australian earns in a year.”

If you want an effective regulatory system, you need to pay for it. If you pay peanuts, you will get a monkey of a system. If you are worried about cost, the argument should be less about the policy as whether the regulation is efficient.

“Some research finds little evidence for any change, others show displacement from firearms to other methods (such as hanging).”

People who want commit suicide, or murder someone else, will always find a way to achieve that goal. What firearms do is make that goal easier to achieve, making it less likely that second thoughts can come into play. Therefore, having fewer guns kicking about in the population must be a good thing.

In the US, most firearm offences are committed with firearms that have been stolen from legal owners. Arming the population to make the country safer has not worked. In fact all it has done is created a criminal arms race and made society less safe.

@Cobber the hound, Monday, 16 June 2014 12:58:09 PM

So Howard's gun laws prevent multiple homicide, you say? You would believe that the crowing of the rooster causes the sun to rise.

As well, licensed persons have never been able to won fully automatic firearms. The reloading rifle or 'semi-automatic' is useful to ensure the follow-up shot to ensure humane culling. Regrettably in times of natural calamity such as drought, farmers have used semi-automatic .22 to cull sheep for example.

Are you sure you are a farmer and a licensed firearms owner? Because your ignorance is not to be expected of either.

Lone wolf killers, serial killers, multiple killers are not created by the availability of the tools and methods they employ. For instance, arson has been responsible for multiple deaths too, an example being the Whisky-au-Go-Go multiple homicides in Brisbane, Queensland. What about Evan Pederick and the Hilton Hotel bombing that was designed to kill many, but only managed to kill an unfortunate waste disposal employee?

You and some others should take a course in reading and comprehension. Get a glass of cold water and sit down to read and comprehend what the subject OLO article is saying rather than reacting emotionally and going off half-cocked.