individual,

If someone with a gun broke into my house and if
I also had a gun - he'd shoot me first.
Can't you see that? I'd be in more danger if I
also had a gun.

A police search for guns in Sydney.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMFLthS7Sjo

More people are injured today with knives in Australia.

Wrong Foxy.

If most homes were known to have guns, as they were when I was a boy & young man, robbers would be much more loath to invade homes when residents were present. It just did not happen in Oz when I was young.

The even worse problem is our crazy laws. If you were to shoot, or even hit with a cricket bat, any home invader, it would be you who was charged, unless you could prove you were in fear of your life. A total reversal of innocent until proven guilty.

Personally I don't have much fear of home invasion, with 2 large dogs, friendly to anyone, unless instructed to attack. They hopefully will deter any would be invader. They would need to, as it would take an awfully long time for me to fetch the key to my gun safe, unlock it, extract a rifle, load & fit a magazine, or grab a round & insert it into the breach, before I could defend myself.

Unfortunately I am no longer able to put up much of a fight physically. My old navy unarmed defense training good though it was once, does require a higher level of physical ability than I now have.

As a kid in a country town we never heard of gun violence, & very rarely heard of gun accidents. However we did have at least one kid a year riding a bike. Yet the woke brigade who want guns banned, want more bike riding by everyone to fight the make believe CO2 caused climate change. Talk about stupidity!

Texas has always had somewhat less stringent guns laws that much of the US. Yet its firearm death rate remains below the average for the rest of the country.

The lessen from comparing US states is that the level of gun control has little to do with the overall death rate. Chicago has perhaps the strictest gun laws in the US bit also among the worst gun death rate.

We'll have to wait for a year or three to evaluate these changes.

Its fraught to start drawing comparisons between Australia and the US. We've never had a gun culture like the US, laws or not. Equally and probably more importantly we haven't had the gang problems that the US imported from places like Sicily and Mexico. If we had gangs killing innocents in the middle of their battles, I suspect the citizenry would be clamouring for more protection including personal protection.

I've only ever shot a gun twice. Once when I worked (straight out of school) for bank and all employees were required to know how to use the pistol all branches kept. This is no longer the case. The other time was during a camping weekend outside Vladivostok where the only thing that was truly safe were the empty champagne bottles which were our targets. I have no desire to own a gun in Australia. But I suspect that, were I to relocate to the US my desire for a gun would change.

The right to bear arms in the US is supported by the Second Amendment to the US Constitution which 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.”

This was inspired by the American Revolution which was started by the action of armed Massachusetts farmers challenging the might of the British Army. However, armies now have airplanes, tanks, bombs and other weapons which armed farmers couldn’t do much against. The gun lobby justifies itself by the last part of the amendment - the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. It could also be interpreted as - the right of people belonging to a well regulated Militia to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

I was a military advisor to Senator Woodley in writing legislation to control the arms trade of Australian weapons producers. Arms sales are protected from public scrutiny since a commercial-in-confidence provision applies. We were unsuccessful in getting the provision removed.

The right to bear arms..
davidf,
I think there's a massive difference between "bearing" arms to owning a firearm. I'm against bearing arms in public but I'm not against owning one & keep it at home or take it with you into an environment where you might need it to fend off a dangerous animal.