Toni Lavis,

As you admit yourself, mass killings are rare (but sensationalised and continually replayed by the media) and account for a tiny fraction of the injuries and deaths from violence in the US. That is not even taking into account the numbers injured and killed by knives, baseball bats (loved by black gangs) and other means.

From your link, the information seems suspect to say the least. For example, "We have updated this database with the mass shooting at a military center in Chattanooga, Tennessee". The crimes were committed by a Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. If you know that the particular guns he used were obtained legally you had better inform the FBI who do not say that at all.

This fellow,

<immediately after the shooting, Abdulazeez’s father apologized for the damage his son had done. “He was distraught,” Issa said. “His voice was broken, and he said he was very sorry for what his son caused to the community of Chattanooga and the Islamic community here.”

Issa wondered if Abdulazeez had been radicalized during his several trips to Jordan, the last in 2014 when he was in the region for seven months.

“It has to be the overseas trip that caused this,” he said. “That’s the only thing I can figure out.”>

Combined with his diagnosed depression and other erratic behaviour he is not someone who would be allowed a licence here, ever.

Multiple homicides are linked to media sensationalising prior incidents.

In Australia there was a brief period of time where a number occurred. An absence of such incidents before and after.

Why that is so is not known. But it challenges the over-simplification (and ineffectiveness) of 'gun control'.

For example it could have had to do with inflammatory statements in the media by gun control activists who made such offences 'sexy' and newsworthy at the time.

How to explain the Hilton Hotel bombing by Evan Pederick (one dead but hundreds were targets); the mass killings, human and animal and destruction of property by arsonists lighting bushfires; or the Whiskey Au G Go multiple homicides in Brisbane?

Man Haron Monis, the Sydney siege gunman
entered the Lindt Café with a hidden gun.
The inquest heard Monis's 1950s-era shotgun
was easily acquired shortly before the siege.

Things could be much worse in this country if
guns were as freely available in this country
as they are in the US.

Foxy,

Why didn't our stringent gun laws stop Monis?

The Lyndt Cafe siege was a massacre in the making and not one of those hostages had anyway of defending themselves.

// "We have updated this database with the mass shooting at a military center in Chattanooga, Tennessee". The crimes were committed by a Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. If you know that the particular guns he used were obtained legally you had better inform the FBI who do not say that at all.//

Not according to CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/17/us/tennessee-naval-reserve-shooting/

"Abdulazeez had a handgun and two long guns in his possession when police in the Tennessee city killed him Thursday, and another rifle was seized when police searched his home, the official said.

The 24-year-old engineering graduate wore a "load-bearing vest" that allowed him to carry extra ammunition, said Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the regional FBI office.

It does not appear that the weapons were purchased recently, the law enforcement official said. Reinhold said earlier Friday that "some of the weapons were purchased legally and some of them may not have been."

Toni,

Funny thing was that that particular shooting was on a military base and no one was armed, seems that soldiers in the US are not allowed to be armed.

Hi Joe,

Possibly you did not read my opening post when I said "We (Australians) pride ourselves on being a tolerant liberal democracy."

"I (Joe) admire your courage, putting up posts alerting us to the dangers around us, and braving the knock on the door at 3 a.m.
Such cynicism is beneath you, but feel free.

Those sitting comfortably in their easy chair, saying "it can't happen here", are deluding themselves. Things can change, and yes given the right circumstances a tolerant liberal democracy can change overnight to become a Putin's Russia, or Assad's Syria, or Xi's China, or under ISIS or something else.
For sometime governments of both persuasions have been making small changes to Australia in the name of "security", some of those changes have been necessary, but there is a balance which needs to be maintained. Abbott's over use of words like "death cult" feed the fears of ordinary people, and conditions them into accepting other "necessary" changes to their freedoms and liberties.

Joe, the gun issue was introduced to the thread by me old sparing partner on the subject Is Mise, and I always feel obliged to answers his concerns on such matters.

'Idiot's Guide to Useful Idiots', again Joe I'll leave that in your incapable hands. Maybe Beach can write the foreword for your
book.

Hi Foxy,

Some interesting stats you have posted, can you change that 29.7 figure for the USA to say 2.7 its never a comfortable stat for the pro gun lobby. Beach has previously expressed his support on the forum for a paramilitary well armed citizens militia, masquerading as a family fun shooters club, no doubt with people such as himself calling the shots. Given the rabid postings on here of the pro gun clique it is easy to understand why no one should be allowed to carry such an offensive weapon as a firearm, to dangerous!