Get real. The Americans are not going to to give up their guns. We have some of the most draconian gun laws in the world here, so we use knives or, for mass killings, motor cars. No law will prevent killing.

Criminals will always have availability to weapons and drugs, it's what makes them criminals of course: But in the end, (and for whatever his ulterior motive may or may not have been), John Howard was light years in front of the world with his innovations with gun controls.

John Howard is responsible for saving thousands of lives, and that my friends, is the only thing that endears him to me.

Further thought:

Maybe this could be a little gem for the liberal party to push as a positive achievement for the next election.
It is a positive act of political achievement with bennifits to this day.

The lives saved were mostly women and children. Whole families were massacred by disassociated partners, at the whim of reaching for a gun.

A truly great achievement! Thank you John Howard!

So glad to be living in Australia and not the US.
There they have the persistent belief that , since
criminals have guns, law abiding citizens need them
for self protection. Actually, gun-owning households
are much more likely to suffer fatalities from their
own weapons than from those of outsiders. Studies
done in the past show that only a small percentage of
all slayings in gun owning households were for self-
protection. The rest were suicides, homicides, or
accidental deaths, almost all involving family members,
friends, or acquaintances.

Another reason for the proliferation of handguns in the
US is the belief, deeply held by many Americans, that
gun ownership is an individual right. For granting this
liberty to the individual, American society pays the
price in the deviance of those who abuse it.

with the violent unhinged tantrum throwing left one needs a firearm in America.

runner,

You're absolutely right.

From my experience living for ten years in the
US as well as the experience of a close friend who was
in the LAPD - people like you wouldn't survive.
You'd be shot quick and smart. Over there -
they shoot before they listen. Be happy that
you're here in Oz - where most people are fairly
tolerant - and you'd probaly have the full support of
the Shooters Gun Lobby Group.