Australians Turn in 57,000 Guns in Landmark National Amnesty

[DonViejo]

Source: BBC




In 1996, a man walked into a tourist resort in Tasmania, Australia, and shot 35 people dead, wounding 23 others. Known as the Port Arthur Massacre, it was the deadliest mass shooting in Australian history and forever changed the country’s relationship with guns, leading to laws that heavily restricted their purchase and ownership. On Thursday, Australian authorities announced that 57,000 firearms were turned in last year during the country’s first guns amnesty since the 1996 massacre, which allowed people to hand in illegal, unregistered firearms without fear of prosecution. The guns were then either destroyed or properly registered. “Taking these unregistered firearms off the streets means they will not fall into the hands of criminals, who might use them to endanger the lives of innocent Australians,” said Law Enforcement Minister Angus Taylor. Among the returned firearms were 2,500 automatic weapons, 2,900 handguns, and one rocket launcher.

READ IT AT BBC NEWS


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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/australia-turns-in-57000-guns-in-landmark-national-amnesty?ref=home

[7962]

1. Fewer people in AU now own guns, but there are actually more guns now than pre-"ban"

[brush]

2. But no more mass shootings. I recently read that there has only been 1 domestic violence...

incident—four people were killed—since the amnesty in Australia.

[7962]

7. You know, I'd like to see a comparison of different countries; how many people are medicated?

As in psychotropic type prescription drugs. I'm really seeing such a culture difference between populations of people that we in the US have very much in common with.

[Thyla]

11. This is a great point and never mentioned enough....

I'd like to see the stats too, I'm sure they exist somewhere and I reckon they will confirm your train of thought here. Throw in opioides to the mix too.
I know big pharma doesn't have it's claws in place properly yet in Oz and the EU and thank dog for that.

[brush]

12. Good thought. We probably are an over-medicated society, not an ideal combination with...

our easy access of weapons that should only be battlefields.

[IronLionZion]

8. "The law created a national firearm registry, a 28-day waiting period for firearm sales,"

placed tight control on semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons, although permitted their use by licensed individuals who required them for a purpose other than 'personal protection'. The act included a gun buy-back provision. The law created a national firearm registry, a 28-day waiting period for firearm sales, and tightened firearm licensing rules.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Australia

I could make a liberal argument that guns aren't even the problem, our weak gun regulations are the problem. As in we need better regulations without NRA interference. The Australian laws include some very important provisions that the NRA has blocked here in the US.

Australians don't have the paranoid belief that they need to defend themselves from their own government, for example. Or the delusional fantasy that an average Joe is going to shoot a mass shooter or terrorist to save the day.

[7962]

13. I remind my friends that when the 2nd was written, the govt & the people were pretty equally armed.

So there was some merit to defending yourself against a tyrannical government. But today, I dont care WHAT you have, if the govt WANTS you, they're going to get you. Or a drone will. Even the smallest military group is better armed than the local group of IDPA shooters

[volstork]

3. From The Onion:

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1820163660

[groundloop]

4. Australia obviously doesn't respect 2nd Amendment rights

[IronLionZion]

9. Without guns to defend themselves, it's Mad Max every day over there

[Orsino]

5. Meanwhile, we lose more guns than that between the couch cushions. n/t

[ffr]

6. Not until I own a electromagnetic rail gun, please.

Who doesn't want to own one of these? No gunpowder even. Just need to carry around a powerplant in my backpack.

[Thyla]

10. "and one rocket launcher"

lol

[inwiththenew]

14. That's less than 1 day of gun sales here

I say that not to say it can't be done but more as an "LOL" for this country.

In January there were 2,030,530 NICS background checks for 31 days which works out to 65,500/day. LOL.

[link:https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf/view|