Right Thinking From The Left Coast
"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Thursday, November 07, 2002

This Should Make the Aussies Safer
by Lee

The Australian government has reacted to a recent shooting there by banning 250 types of handguns.

The Australian government is about to considerably tighten the laws on handgun ownership following a deadly shooting last month on a university campus.

Federal and state ministers meeting to discuss the issue have backed a range of new measures, but critics accuse the government of trying to impose “social revenge” on law-abiding gun-owners after the double murder.

Two students at Monash University in Melbourne were shot dead last month by another student, who was a licensed gun owner.

Among the steps under consideration is a federal government proposal to outlaw some 250 types of handguns that are not used in law enforcement or in recognized shooting competitions, coupled to a “buyback” scheme to facilitate recovery of the newly-banned weapons.

When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns.  I know it’s a cliche, but those words have never been more true.  This is similar to the recent shooting at the University of Arizona, in that it took place at a college in which two people were killed.  As Clayton Cramer pointed out the UA campus was a “gun free zone,” which obviously worked wonders in protecting the students and staff there.  Australia seems to think that a “gun free country” will work the same sort of magic.

Update: I have been doing a little more thinking about this issue.  If I remember correctly there were roughly 60 gun deaths in Australia last year.  According to the CIA World Factbook Australia’s population is just under 20 million.  That’s an insignificant amount of deaths by guns.  The Australians should be heralding the success of their gun control policies, that in a country of 20 million people they only have a paltry 60 gun deaths per year.  I have no figures to back this up, but I would be willing to bet money that more than 60 people die there each year from insect and animal bites.  From a strictly numerical standpoint their existing gun control laws are working exceptionally well for them. 

So why the hysteria every time someone gets shot?

Posted by Lee on 11/07/02 at 12:42 PM in 2nd Amendment  • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink • Discuss this in the forums
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