Gun Control Laws In Australia

Mira Kamdar, a French writer, writes her article "America's Gun Madness, as Seen from Europe" to inform her audience about the foolish lack of rules America seems to have on guns compared to other European countries. Kamdar's mother lives in a small city in Oregon, which was recently in the news for the mass shooting at a community college. This story not only made national news for America, but according to Mira, made international news to countries like France. After receiving this news, Mira writes this article to compare and contrast the gun laws in France and what seems the lack of gun laws and regulations in the United States. A mass shooting like the one at Umpqua Community College and even Sandy Hook Elementary School stun citizens

Over the last two decades, Australia’s firearm laws have undergone extensive reform, resulting from two main catalyst shootings. These shootings events are known as the 1996 Port Arthur massacre and the 2002 Monash University shooting (Baker, & McPhedran, 2007).

The United States has always a gun and hunting culture starting from the birth of the country itself. The men who fought in the war of independence were citizens who owned their own muskets. However the issue of gun control can be traced back to the Civil War, as new African-American citizens needed to protect themselves from their previous owners in the south that would often hunt them down. The problematic of gun control have changed greatly due to the evolution of times. From the late twentieth century until today, gun control has been highly debated because of recurrent mass shootings, such as Columbine, such as Sandy Hook, such as Virginia Tech, such as San Bernardino, and such as Roseburg - just to name a few. Many have pleaded for thorough background checks to prevent convicts or the mentally handicapped from owning guns, while others argue that US citizens should follow in the steps of advanced European countries and no longer possess these lethal weapons. Others who are often leaning to the right argue that this a fundamental right that defines americanism and shapes American pride and historic culture. However recurrent mass shootings are nothing to be proud of.

The issue of gun control begins with the careless distribution of firearms and how easy they are to obtain. In the United States, many mass killings by gunmen in civilian settings set

The American society has for long struggle with the debate and issue of private gun ownership. There are the advocates proposing lenient laws to allow more gun possession while the people against it calling for stringent laws to control the situation. For many centuries, since the enactment of the Second Amendment and even during the slavery period, gun ownership remains an issue to debate. The negative effects have been the harassment of the minority and the vulnerable as well as increased crimes. On other hand, it has helped promote the security of the people and ensure there is no violation of people’s rights to own guns as required by the Second Amendment. As such, gun control and ownership remains a controversial and hot topic of discussion

This essay investigates the Australian gun laws and whether they are effective or not. In particular, with a focus on what the current gun laws are and how they have or have not worked also if they need to be updated. The current gun laws were first introduced by John Howard in 1997 after the mass shooting in Port Arthur where 35 people were killed and a further 18 injured on the 28th of April, 1996 (Sharpe, 2016), the laws were them further improved in 2002, after the Monash University shooting, where a commerce student with mental impairments came in to class armed with 6 loaded handguns, 2 students died and an additional 5 were injured (ABC News, 2015). It has been almost 20 years since the introduction of the current gun laws, the essay

It appears as though the repetitive and unfortunate tragedies of mass shootings have become incorporated into the everyday life of American culture. We are forced to live in a heightened degree of fear, skepticism, and hesitation concerning our public safety. This phenomenon could reasonably occur in response to the vast ineffectiveness of the country’s current gun laws. Time after time similar misfortunes arise, yet few major changes are implemented to prevent them from reoccurring in the future. We cannot let this trend continue any further. Though some claim that increased gun control is useless and infringes upon the Second Amendment, it limits civilians’ weapons grade, obstructs those deemed unfit to wield such lethal weapons, and insures a greater level of security, thus it should be executed.

The thought of guns and the ability to commit mass murder is a chilling one. According to the The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence, “an average of more than 100,000 people are shot every year in the United States” (Just the Facts: Gun Violence in America). Gun violence in America has reached epidemic proportions, surpassing rates of gun-related violence in other developed, high-income nations by 25 percent (Preidt). There is an urgent need for tighter gun laws in America. (5) In order to put an end to the growing trend of gun violence, the United States needs stricter legislation regarding the purchase and ownership of firearms. Although most gun advocates believe that stricter gun laws would not prevent mass shootings, stricter gun

In the United States of America the right to bear arms gave birth to a phenomenon called the “gun culture,” the term coined in 1970 by a historian Richard Hofstadter, which describes America’s heritage and affection for weapons(1). Not only did gun culture become an inseparable part of American democracy, but also it is considered to be synonymous with independence and freedom, the most important values for American society. Even though the crime rate and murder rate in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country, U.S. citizens oppose every attempt made to pass gun control legislation(2). However, it may sound like a paradox, but the crime level in the most liberal states, when it comes to gun ownership, is the lowest in the

The United States is one of the few countries were the right to bear arms is protected by the constitution. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most violent with incidents involving guns this year reaching an estimated 36,212 and an approximate 9,050 deaths (“Gun Violence Archive”). There are an estimated 310 million firearms in households across American, these are only estimates because current gun laws do not require them to be registered or tracked. A more staggering estimate is that most of the guns owned by private citizens are semi-automatic guns, the same type of gun used in almost all mass shootings. While these privately owned guns are legally purchased, many times, they land in the hands of criminals, and owners never report them stolen. Mass shootings and gun crimes are not the only issues with gun violence the one never talked about is suicide, more guns available equals more suicides. The United States is one of the easiest countries to own a gun legally or illegally, stricter gun control laws are necessary.

This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.

Gun control is an extremely controversial issue in the United States, and the debates around this topic has started many decades ago. According to the article “Gun Rights vs. Gun control” by Brianna Gurciullo, these debates are fueled by the people who defend the gun rights and the people who advocate in favor of gun control. It has been difficult to prove that gun ownership is directly related to an increase in violence due to the fact that researches tend to disagree on the impact of gun ownership in the American society. These debates tend to be brought to the spotlight whenever there is a mass shooting in the United States, which according to Abbey Oldham, who is a reporter from the PBS News Hour, happens quite frequently. However, organizations, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), defend that the laws for gun control violate the Second Amendment of the constitution, which states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” stated Gurciullo. Due to the distinct interpretations of the constitution and the difficulty to agree on the best approach to tackle the issue, this controversy seem to be almost unsolvable.

Former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer once said "Yes, people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror". Spitzer’s words makes one think: should we fear the person behind the gun or the gun itself? The majority of violent crimes that happen in America are not only caused by a criminal, but also the weapon in which the criminal is holding. America’s gun violence problem stems from the increasing accessibility of firearms. Many of the mass shootings in America could have been prevented if access to semi-automatic and automatic weapons were completely banned. Gun violence is an arising issue, and a change needs to be made concerning the gun laws in the U.S. Stricter gun control laws is necessary to prevent high accessibility to firearms and mass shootings, also research shows that Australia’s strict gun control laws are proven to be more efficient in preventing gun violence.

The issue of guns is one of the most prominent social problems in the United States, and every time after the shooting incident, the voice of gun control became to rise and the debate of banning guns emerge again. What People can do is only to offer their condolences, griefs and protests for gun violence, and stand for moments of silence. People still don’t have any law of gun control in return even if in the face of these bloody statistics. Because this issue is not just a simple social problem, and this issue has evolved into an intricate issue and many factors are intertwined, such as cultural tradition, value concept, legal rights, party politics and interest groups. I argue that the gun control movement will continue to develop,

The studies and research on gun control has opened up many ideas on how weak the current laws really are. Crime rates consist of high numbers. “Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass shootings across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii”