@Paul

Which information, that was available at the time, should have disqualified the owner of the guns from being able to purchase them?

Issy, its notable that you did not wait for any inquiry into your US of duty woman cooper shooting dead some bloke before crowing. Why do you want to be so circumspect over the Margaret River tragedy. Could it be since it involves a person who in the past you have described in general terms as a law abiding citizen of good character, one of your own. Do you still claim all licensed gun owners are such persons.

AC, announce publicly "going to stab a heap of people" and all those other such nasty things and you might get a visit from the police. In fact to make unmitigated threats of a general nature is a crime in itself.

"How can you prevent someone from harming another if they are determined to do so?" That's not the argument, the argument is about issuing a gun licence to a person who committed an horrendous crime. I am against the issuing of gun licences to future deranged killers. Since the state can not give a 100% guarantee as to who is who, they should not issue a licence unless its absolutely necessary, and under the most stringent of conditions.

"ice-pick, 40oz blacksmith hammer or a fireaxe" a straw man argument, not relevant.

benk; "Which information, that was available at the time, should have disqualified the owner of the guns from being able to purchase them?
The information available is a percentage of persons issued a gun licence use it for criminal purposes. There is no need for many who own a gun legally now, to have a gun, the risk in my view is unacceptable.

"Dramatic security footage shows a suspect named as Elivelton Neves Moreira, 21, approaching the crowd with a gun outside a private school in Sao Paulo.

But his attempted crime backfired when military police officer Katia da Silva Sastre, 42, pulled out her own weapon and unleashed three shots."

//Issy, its notable that you did not wait for any inquiry into your US of duty woman cooper//

Do you even geography, bro?

Sao Paulo is in Brazil... another country rife with excessive gun violence.

I do love the way Is Mise keep digging up these stories from countries with much higher rates of gun violence than Oz, and presents them as though they're inspirational tales of how wonderful life is in these countries and that upon reading them we'll all see the light and want to make Australia just like Brazil or Elbonia or Kgydrtfystan or whatever shitehole country is host to this week's heartwarming tale of violent vigilantism (yee-hah!), so that we too can have the joy of shoot-outs on every high street just like in the classic Westerns you enjoyed as a lad. Won't that be fun for us?

It suggests to me that as sage and canny as he is on most subjects, he's a bit clueless when it comes to human nature.

People don't want to get shot, Is Mise. That's basically the crux of the problem you face in trying to sell the vision of a society with increased gun violence as a utopian ideal, and what makes it about as easy as pushing shite uphill with a sharp stick. If you and your mates from the Shooters party can figure out a way to get around people's natural reluctance to be shot, you may enjoy more success in selling your message. But until then, I think most Australians will prefer the timeless advice of Johnny Cash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A74Wq0B1WrI

To be honest Toni I didn't get overly engrossed in Issy's link. If I had bothered to concentrate then yes I would have realized it was in Brazil, and not Donaldland. At first I thought Issy was praising mother's, it being Mothers Day and all. Alas not so, according to Mr Gun Happy, what makes for the perfect day is when someone gets shot dead.

Toni, thanks for the link, the the 'Man In Black' makes for better listening than Issy's links do for reading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xyp63MaSBs

A line from the above "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."

The point is that this defensive shooting didn't rate a mention in main stream media, I wonder why?

Has no one got anything to say about a shooting like this not being possible in Australia, thanks to the Howard gun laws?