The only people I know who own guns are either:

- cattle farmers
- recreational and professional hunters (some responsible, some completely reckless)
- law enforcement officers

As yet I haven't met any individuals who claim they need to own a gun for any other reason. Specifically, I've been lucky enough not to encounter any potential murderers, but...

If I did have someone attempt to kill me I'd prefer they tried it with a knife, an axe, a crow bar, or even a 'cricket bat'. At least I'd stand a chance.

In my opinion, Howard's gun laws are one of only two good things he's done as PM. So I'll give credit where credit's due.

Oh yes, I forgot to add sports shooters to that list.

The Courier Mail 05/05/06 has an interesting report on the perils of Bathrooms. In "Keeping clean proves to be hazardous for your health" by Renee Viellaris, The Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit advises that each year 10 people die from the 3700 bathroom injuries in that state. Some 41% of these injuries were to children under 5 years.

As Qld is 18% of the Australian population, we can reasonably extrapolate this to a total of 55 bathroom deaths Australia wide. And from this we can reasonably conclude that, even without Howard's gun controls, Australians were 5.5 times more likely to die from a bathroom injury than by a mass shooting. Indeed, as the current annual average number of gun homicides is only 56, we have no choice but to consider the current risk of bathroom mortality as equal to that of gun homicide.

It should also be noted that the national data on mass killings is significantly distorted by Port Arthur. Some 35 of the 100 mass shooting deaths in that decade were victims of Bryant. It took that many deaths to get him a permanent institutional bed. And without this distortion, the annual average was only 6.5 (one event) each year.

So what do Alpers and Chapman propose to do about bathrooms?

Yes, firearms have some strange and unusual effects on some people. Shortly after the gun buy-back post Bryant, a middle aged man was referred to me suffering from what at first appeared to be a "social phobia" disorder. Never a drinker or smoker his entire life, he was lately spending the day locked securly in his small flat slowly drinking himself to death. Neighbors observed that he would race from the flat to his car often knocking his head or arms in the process of trying to get in quickly. He would go to the local food store, rush to find a list of necessary items then return to lock himslf inside. Much of his diet was beer, pasta sachets and bread. A friend concerned by his spiralling health alerted the health team. Eventually, it was discovered the man (who was a true gentleman) was suffering depression and a form of agoraphobia which came about after he was forced to hand in his semi auto .22 during Howard's blitz on law abiding gun owners. He was extremly scared that he no longer had any "protection" from intruders. No signs of dementia was evident. He couldn't sleep, refused to answer the door to strangers and badly needed psychiatric help, which he duly received. After many months, he was deemed able to return home. Some months later, he tied a piece of cord around his neck, the other end to a door knob and let gravity do the rest. He never left a note, but I believe the loss of his firearm to be a major cause of his torment.

Given that this discussion has veered off into the ludicrous I may as well bite. When are the pro-gun lobby going to defend my right to hold nuclear weapons? John Hostetler, former Indiana Congressman, said that the 2nd Amendment of the US Bill of Rights did in fact justify private ownership of nuclear bombs. And don't forget, people have nothing to fear from law abiding citizens holding a nuclear arsenal.

"Had the gun law reforms not occurred, more Australians contemplating suicide - in particular, impulsive young people - might have more easily found a method of instantly ending their lives.

Reliable national data on suicide attempts is not available to examine whether suicide completion rates changed after Port Arthur."

And why do you feel it's society's duty to protect these self-destructive people from themselves? What gives you the right to interfere or advocate interference in someone else's life?