With the event of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, the Australian population where pushing tighter gun laws. With the quick development of one of the largest gun reforms in recent history, Australia became and remains the standard for advocates of anti-gun and gun control campaigns. As Australia being a federation, John Howard (who has only been in office six weeks) had to convince the country’s states into supporting a nationwide reform. With the ‘Australian gun buyback’ in 1996-97, 650,000 privately held guns were collected and destroyed in an incentive to minimise gun related crime.
Nationally, guns are used in 68% of homicides, which helps explain why America experiences more gun homicides than any other modern nation in the world (Hirsh 86). If America wants to make a real change, then its legislators and constituents must have the will to improve its current gun control laws. By recognizing the lack of any meaningful laws, society can start focusing on the failures of the political system. Currently, there are twenty-two thousand gun control laws in place (Hirsh 86). Due to the large number and minimal impact on America, it appears that these laws are ineffective and in need of a restructuring focused on the gun retailer.
The Port Arthur massacre of late April 1996, still remains clear in every Australian's mind. The worst mass shooting ever committed by a lone gunman in the English-speaking-world, this event resulted in the heavy gun-control laws put in place all across Australia. This indiscriminate killing of innocent men, women and children has seriously affected the Australian way of life. Martin Bryant, aged 28 at the time, killed 35 people and injured 23 using a variety of weapons, including a Colt AR-15 high-powered rifle, and a 12-gauge Daewoo self-loading shotgun.
The debate surrounding gun control and gun violence has been an ongoing controversy in many communities and America as a whole. As gun violence increase each year, views and opinions are rising, which not only have created tension in communities, but also has become a major debate in society. Although some critics argue that guns bring an overall negative impact to the country, others comment that guns are crucial to the beliefs and views of people today as well as important to their culture. In the context of today's society, many people in America are viewing gun control as an infringement of their rights and its threat towards their ability to protect, thus questioning: To what extent should gun use and possession should be controlled?
With all the recent gun related crimes and tragedies’ that has happened recently, there are strong calls for government to act for stricter gun control laws. Mr. Alan Berlow wrote an Op-ed essay that was published in the New York Times titled “Gun Control That Actually Works”. Berlow makes the argument that there are control measures in place that works for gun control. In 1934 a measure was enacted into law to control the procurement of weapons which is known as the NFA (National Firearms Act). The NFA outlines the standard for procurement of military grade firearms and any weapon, attachment, or modification that will allow a single person to inflict a large amount of fatalities with in a single attack.
Due to their various appellations, these groups have instilled a collective fear of terrorism into Western society. Brought by proliferation of knowledge of their potential impact on the livelihoods of those opposed to their radicalist ideals. This recent fearful response to the seemingly overwhelming terrorism threats have resulted in the Australian people feeling the immediate need for protection from the malicious radicals that may have integrated into our society. This premature haste has lead to avid promotion of the introduction of personal firearms - and other assortments of weaponry - to Australia’s society by various citizens and conservative political parties. Groups such as
Cameron Coletta Mrs. Cummings English III A.P. 3 March, 2016 Gun Containment Policy There is much controversy over whether or not to make the owning of guns illegal. While some think that doing this would bring an end to monstrous events, previously taken place, many others believe that this law would make the country more dangerous. My claim that making guns illegal would bring more chaos to the country, causing underground transactions including weapons to take place, and criminals who plan to commit such horrible crimes will find a way to get gun even if it is made illegal, is supported by logical evidence. The claim that making guns illegal would make the country more dangerous, is supported by logical evidence.
Seventy people are shot, twelve which lost their lives. How did this happen? How did the gunman obtain the weapon? This could have been prevented. A gun control advocate for the past 10 years, State Senator Jacqueline Collins, wrote the article “Gun control is long overdue,” published February 1, 2014 in the Chicago Tribune, in which she argues the need for stricter gun control laws.
Australia's 1996 gun law reforms were followed by more than a decade free of fatal mass shootings, and accelerated declines in firearm deaths, particularly suicides. Total homicide rates followed the same pattern. Removing large numbers of rapid‐firing firearms from civilians may be an effective way of reducing mass shootings, firearm homicides and firearm
With irresponsible gun owners and weak gun restrictions, the likelihood of an undiagnosed psychopath to purchase an automatic rifle and unload it on a public audience skyrockets. My proof of gun control’s effectiveness lies in the Pacific Ocean: Australia. Ever since their first major shooting, they refused to sell any more guns and offered a buyback to each citizen; ever since this law was put into place in 1996 after the Port Arthur incident, their collective death toll from massacres never reached anywhere close to our annual amount. Those who believe a black market will still dominate need to consider the real issue at stake here: the government is legally distributing them with a rather simple set of tasks to
He stated this after the Port Arthur Massacre, an incident in which a gunman killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Australia. The incident was so brutal that it led to Australia completely changing their gun control laws. Since the change in gun control laws, Australia has had very few mass murders, the largest being the Sydney hostage crisis in 2014 in which 3 people were shot in a terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia. Some people feel that the reason that Congress has not been passing gun control laws is due to the fact that the NRA donates millions of dollars each year to Republican lawmakers in
Gun violence has been a massive issue through the modern age of humanity and has created a sense of division regarding the solution to this epidemic. In Adam Gopnik’s essay “Shootings”, Gopnik addresses the issue of gun violence and demands a change in American government policy to prevent the tragic killings of innocent lives. Gopnik harnesses the tool of emotion and passion to drive his essay. In Charles Cooke’s essay “Gun Control Dishonesty”, Cooke takes the polar opposite of Gopnik’s approach by utilizing factual evidence to prove the futility of gun control. Cooke’s essay overflows with logic and reason.
Statistics show that comparable to other democratic nations the United states has a higher proportion of gun related violent incidents than those states where gun control legislation has been adopted. An example would be the case of the United Kingdom, which had approximately 2,261 Violence Against the Person (VAP) Offences involving firearms, including low velocity Air weapons in 2015/16 . If this is then compared to the United States which had, in the same period, 9,616 gun related murders and a million VAP offences that did not end in a fatality, then it can be argued that the NRA’s outdated mantra is illogical . There are many further problems with the NRA argument that can be identified in the modern era. , but the main issue would be the NRA’s reasons for the existence of the Amendment.
On the issue of gun control, I had always thought along the lines of opposing or supporting the issue but had never thought that there could be another argument different from these two main ones that could be discussed. It was therefore quite refreshing to look at the issue from Novak’s point of view. The fact that he provided evidence to support his claim that law enforcement has worked before in reducing gun violence cases made his article all the more interesting and believable. He shows that the debate on gun control may just have been pointless all this time as the issue that should be discussed is really not whether people should have guns or not but rather how to enforce the law to ensure that perpetrators of gun violence are
This then led to the expansion of gun control laws and has strongly shaped and influenced the public’s opinion. The process of developing gun control remains to be a challenge still, due to its capacity removing individual rights and liberty, which undermine the value of guns and firearms in the promotion of deterrence and self-defense and inability to recognize the commitment of existing reasonable gun control initiatives already in
Everyday in the United States, ninety families are changed forever; guns claim an average of ninety lives every day in the United States, 33,000 lives in a single year. Gun control has been a debate in the United States for many years and is constantly thrusted back into the public’s attention by horrific shootings. These shootings constantly cause individuals to petition the government to place stricter and stricter regulations of guns. However, these policies cannot be the solution to this problem. To determine a solution that will be both effective and constitutional, we must look at statistics and research that has been conducted to determine the best course of action.