Gun Control: What We Can Learn From Australia
On April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded another 23 in the worst mass shooting in Australia’s history. The massacre occurred in Port Arthur, Tasmania, and the weapons used to inflict death and injury were an AR-15 rifle and an FN .308 rifle. Bryant legally possessed both rifles under the applicable Australian laws at that time. Just 12 days after the shooting, Australian elected officials, headed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, passed broad gun control legislation. Since then, no other mass shootings have occurred in Australia.
Following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, pro-gun advocates in America might argue, as they have done in the past, that nothing can be done to regulate firearms because there is a glut of firearms in the United States. Additionally, they may assert that criminals will never surrender their illegally possessed firearms. Some people might be convinced that nothing can be accomplished through implementing gun control laws because of those assertions. However, those same arguments could be made about outlawing other things such as the trafficking of dangerous controlled substances. The rationale that nothing can be done is a capitulation without effort. Society should not acquiesce on attempts to pass laws to improve the safety of its communities and citizens based on the logic that criminals won’t comply and the dangerous item or practice to be made illegal is ubiquitous.
It is acknowledged that sweeping gun control laws like Australia instituted in 1996 might be challenging to accomplish in America. However, reasonable gun ownership laws might be achievable. One such sensible law is the licensing of gun owners. If owners of firearms in America were required to be licensed like they are in Australia, the firearm purchasing process would be streamlined and the enforcement of illegal possession of firearms would be simplified. Drivers, doctors, and engineers must be licensed to ensure they will operate safely. Licensing gun owners in America would be a sensible step to improve the safety of our nation.
Although the United States has yet to accomplish any measures to curb gun violence, here is what Australia achieved in 12 days.
· Australia banned certain types of firearms and allowed ownership of other types of firearms through permitting, registering, and licensing processes.
· All automatic and semi-automatic firearms were initially prohibited except for official purposes such as police and security agencies. (Later, the laws were amended to allow possession of semi-automatic weapons for clay target shooters, but the magazine capacities were limited to a maximum of five or ten rounds depending on the weapon.)
· All owners of firearms are licensed, and licensees must substantiate a compelling reason to own any firearm. Personal protection is not considered a valid reason for ownership.
· All firearms are registered with the government. There is a 28-day waiting period before a firearm can be purchased, and that is after a permit to purchase a firearm has been granted by the government.
Here is how Australia handles gun ownership.
In the Australian state of Queensland, the Queensland Police oversee and administer the permitting process to obtain a firearm and the licensing procedure to possess a firearm. To obtain a permit to acquire a firearm, a person must hold a weapons license, must specify which category of weapon he or she is requesting to purchase, must meet the eligibility requirements, and indicate a genuine need to own the desired firearm. The process to obtain a weapons’ license requires the applicant to prove that he or she has a secure facility in which to store the weapon, does not engage in prohibitive acts such as drug abuse or have a history of violence, and must successfully complete an approved training course on firearms safety. Most of the application process for a weapons license can be completed online. However, before the license is issued, the applicant must visit a Queensland Police station for an identification check.
Although it is not impossible for qualified Australians to attain the legal authority to possess a firearm, the laws were established to make the process difficult and are tightly regulated. What the Australians were able to accomplish as a result of a national tragedy is nothing short of astounding. Unlike America, where politicians are publicly shamed for even hinting at modest and sensible gun legislation following mass shootings, the people and politicians in Australia worked expeditiously and intelligently to craft reasonable gun laws to protect their citizens. The United States should do the same, with the same amount of urgency. Our lives depend on it.
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