You can all go back and forth on the ethics of gun ownership but you must accept the reality of this situation:

Hasbeen's right.
'You are not going to get the guns off the yank citizen. They are damn well aware that the only safety against a wrong headed government is a well armed population.'

The US is headed towards economic collapse, and the government will make a move for gun control prior to this.

- And if I were in the US, I'd support non-compliance.

"Ban military grade guns from being sold and in the public. There is no reason for a person for self defense... "

Try telling that to the families of the dead.

"...or for protecting their land away from the cities, to have anything of a military grade weapon."

You heard of bears, wolves, mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats?

The second amendment states 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'

In those days 'regulated' meant 'accurate weapons'

The right of the people to keep and bear arms for the purpose of 'a well regulated militia' means the citizens are entitled to the same weapons as the military, because the purpose of the second amendment is the 'ulimate checks and balances on a tyrannical government'

These rights existed from after they were ruled by the Brits and kicked them out.

Nothing that happens in Australia or is said in Australia is going to have a bearing on what happens in America. Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms; there is no getting around that. They have had that right for a very long time, and mass shootings are relatively recent occurrences. Americans are the only ones who can solve the problem for themselves; it's a people problem not a gun problem.

Australians should be paying more attention to what is happening in Australia rather than jabbering about another country's problems. The Australian media should be getting off its arse and looking for stories that effect Australians instead of saturating the air waves with sensational foreign events that have have become common every day events. Mass shooting stories beyond our borders are getting boring.

"So, why cant we have an education program on the benefits of not having a gun."

Why can't we have the opposite as well?

Ever court sitting day ferrals line up to be fined for being? feral
IF we had American gun laws they may well have guns
Even trying to avoid that truth, and some are, most of us are quite happy with our current laws
The gun supporters will never ever change that

Australian gun laws are only tough on the sane gun owners ! There's no justification for automatic assault rifles !
I'd be quite happy with a single shot .410 handgun but it's so much hassle that I simply give up on the idea. If my personal safety is no reason then sport shooting is no reason at all.
If you do bush walking or crawl around jungle then personal safety IS an issue to me. How dare some lefty bureaucrat who only goes to basket ball can tell me what's safe for me or not.
Come with me & let me see how you deal with an angry sow & piglets.

Belly,

I'm happy with our current gun laws except for a few bureaucratic absurdities.

As I said earlier, shooters have benefited greatly from the laws, the Government said that range attendance was compulsory so had to provide ranges, there are now more firearm ranges than pre 1996.

The Government also said that licenced shooters had to belong to clubs, so the clubs are doing nicely under the new laws as well.

More and more people are taking pistol shooting and the pistol clubs are flourishing as are all the other disciplines.

Inverell shotgun and small bore ranges are a case in point, I drove past there this afternoon and the place has had a complete makeover, it appears that only the new fence now needs to be installed; don't know the cost as I don't shoot there.

All in all the gun laws are a great success, except that they have no effect on criminals.