One Comment on the Latest US Massacre

One article I read, which mentioned that the issue of gun control may arise yet again, had a quote from a pro-gun organisation saying that if everyone had been armed, the shooter would have been stopped at the beginning of his rampage and fatalities would have been far less. While that's probably true, the guy should not have had a gun in the first place.

In Australia, about 10 years ago, a mentally deranged guy shot and killed more than 30 people at a tourist park in Tasmania. The country was horrified, just like in the US.

Unlike the US, the Australian government immediately implemented a real gun control act, and instituted a gun buy-back scheme. A few farmers and hunters immediately wrapped their oiled AK-47s in plastic and buried them, but thousands and thousands of guns were taken off the street and crushed.

Guns are not outlawed in Australia; they can still be bought, but you need a permit and you have to take a safety test. But it is a fact that crimes involving guns have been reduced.

However, there is a large and growing violent criminal element in Australia, especially in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. Most of these criminals appear to be young men from SE Asia (principally Vietnam), Arab countries (Lebanon and Syria), and the Balkans. They form gangs of men of the same nationality; these people seem to have no problem whatsoever getting guns and having shootouts.

When my wife and I sold everything and left Canada in 93, one of the eastern US states passed a gun control law just before we left Ottawa. That law prevented anyone from buying more than 5 hand guns in a week. That's the American idea of gun control. Sphere: Related Content