Yes, but their impact and ability to mass murder is severely constrained if you limit the type of weapons they can use.
A guy in China recently killed 14 kids at a school through stabbing them. If he'd had a semi-automatic gun he would have probably killed hundreds!

No, it doesn't. Speak for yourself.

You can't massacre 35 people with a knife but you can with a gun,

Firearms have limited magazine capacities/calibers/actions and strict controls in Australia as to licensing, training, types available, storage and so on since this horrific incident which is the subject of the thread.

As a sporting shooter myself, who owns a number of weapons, I support very much the governments position on firearms now. It achieves the correct balance between public safety, storage security and inspection, sporting, recreational use and professional need for primary producers/occupations.

Interestingly removal of firearms on a total level does not reduce gun crime. Statistics supported by the UK's experience over the last couple of decades evidence that. Properly licensed, registered and lawfully acquired weapons do not find themselves in the hands of criminals in the main, there are black markets for that sort of thing.

That said, I do believe that the gun laws in, for example, the US represent an obscenely insufficient system with horrific consequence.

Are you talking about US federal law, or the 50+ state/territory sets of laws?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law..._United_States

And what about other countries - Norway, Switzerland, Finland etc? Are they all wrong?

It was the case that prior to 1996, firearms regulation in Australia was probably too lax - especially in Tasmania and Queensland - but an outright ban on self-loading weapons goes too far.

I was speaking in an entirely wild generality about the US laws that, quite rightly pointed out, vary confusingly from state to state in addition to federal laws. A single example; over half of weapons in the US are thought to be stored in an unsecure manner and kept with ammunition. Perfectly legally in many states. That's worrying to my mind given children in some of those houses.

As to other countries, I cannot comment since I don't know as I'm only really familiar with the UK and here being interested from a personal viewpoint.

I agree that the firearms laws in Australia were too lax and Qld in particular before the reforms.

but an outright ban on self-loading weapons goes too far.[/QUOTE]







Just out of interest, why would anyone want to own a self-loading rifle?


They are no better for hunting or target shooting than a single shot bolt action rifle

Its like driving an Automatic , one less thing to do

True,

but manual drivers learn how to handle their cars better

If your interested in that whole business you should read 'suddenly one Sunday' by Mike Bingham, its a bit of an eye opener. If you want a more positive slant to it, if that's possible try 'a story of strength and courage' by Margaret Scott. I was down Port Arthur about 4 month after it happened, it just felt bad. The whole place has a real bad feel about it, its beautiful but it just feels bad. For more http://www.locationlowdown.com.au/se.../Port%20Arthur .

Bob

Why?

Exactly !

[quote=Centurion;8529527]I was speaking in an entirely wild generality about the US laws that, quite rightly pointed out, vary confusingly from state to state in addition to federal laws. A single example; over half of weapons in the US are thought to be stored in an unsecure manner and kept with ammunition. Perfectly legally in many states. That's worrying to my mind given children in some of those houses.

The thing that worries me most about the US and handguns, rifles etc is that they are displayed in racks along with the ammunition in Walmart the way BigW displays DVDs, sheets etc.

Suddenly One Sunday is a real eye-opener into the events that day, isn't it. A very close friend of mine was involved in the treatment of a lot of the victims and Bryant himself - in hospital, and some of the stuff I told me chills me even today.
Port Arthur has a unique air about it I feel, even on the most beautiful day there is an eerieness about it, which I think is partly due to long past events, but also partly to the more recent ones. Definitely a place that should be on any tourist's itinerary for Tassie. I've been there four or five times now and it keeps drawing me back.

It definitely has a poignant feel there, with so much history from the convict settelement, the boy's prison etc and then the more recent tragedy. I now work with some people who were involved in the aftermath, and it is clear it had affected many, many people. Very sad and obviously a difficult subject for many Tasmanians to talk about.

It is a beautiful place with many other great spots nearby, we had the pleasure of having a humpback whale swimming around our boat for over 10 minutes last year. Well worth a visit.

Sam