Gun politics in Australia
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Gun politics, and in particular, gun control in Australia was, before 1996, largely an issue for state governments. Historically, Australia has always had tough restrictions on handguns (requiring shooters to be members of registered gun clubs, and conducting extensive police checks on pistol shooters), whilst rifles and shotguns were considerably less restricted, with the only real restrictions on fully-automatic rifles.
In Australia, firearm advocacy organisations have never approached the strength of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the United States and political sympathisers generally are quite discreet in their support. The perceived lack of support by politicians is generally attributed to the distribution of electoral seats in Australia, with a vast majority of electorates lying over areas with high population density, places with obviously much lower gun ownership rates.
Significant changes to firearms control in Australia have usually followed a high profile spree killing. In 1987, the Hoddle Street spree killing and the Queen Street spree killing took place in Melbourne, Victoria. In response, several Australian states required the registration of all guns, restricted the availability of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. However, firearm laws in several states, including Queensland and Tasmania, remained relatively relaxed.
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Port Arthur massacre
Things changed drastically with the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. The killing of 35 people saw an outcry around the country and gun control advocates used the popular support to push for the nationwide banning of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, and more stringent requirements to obtain a gun license. Several states, most notably Queensland, objected to the changes, believing them to be too restrictive (for instance, restricting the ownership of semi-automatic small-calibre weapons with relatively weak terminal ballistics) and that gun-control advocates were exaggerating the effectiveness of the changes (a still-legal century-old .30-06 bolt action rifle has far more kinetic energy than modern small-caliber weapons, is capable of inflicting greater damage through barriers, and is more accurate at range). Firearms advocates opposed the changes on this basis, as well as their belief that disarming law-abiding citizens only assists spree killers and criminals.
Newly elected Prime Minister John Howard, already known to be a strong advocate of gun control, sought a national agreement to tighten laws, eventually threatening recalcitrant states with the possibility of a constitutional referendum (which, in the climate, would almost certainly have passed) to transfer power over gun laws to the Commonwealth. The American group, the National Rifle Association endeavoured to intervene in the issue by supporting gun advocates, but their involvement was not well-received by some in the Australian public. Eventually, agreement was reached between the states and the changes went through.
The Howard Government introduced a 1% levy on income tax for a period of one year to finance the buy back semi-automatic weapons from gun owners. This scheme was subject to criticism in its implementation (apparently some of the confiscated weapons ended up back on sale in gun shops), but, on the whole, televised images of large numbers of rifles and shotguns being crushed by heavy machinery were well-received by a section of the Australian public. Others such as the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia have derided the $A500 million gun buyback as an immense failure - in 1995 67 Australians died from homicides-by-firearm. The same year 54 died of accidental aspirin overdose. [1] (http://www.ssaa.org.au/iladec97.html). As a comparison, in 2003 2213 Australians died from suicide [2] (http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/a61b65ae88ebf976ca256def00724cde?OpenDocument) and in 2004 the federal government spent $A10 million on the National Advisory Council on Suicide Prevention. [3] (http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2004-tw-wor006.htm)
Following the firearms laws changes, John Howard apparently took the precaution of wearing a bullet-proof vest while addressing a gathering of pro-firearm advocates, an unusual step for an Australian politician at the time.
Monash University shootings
Laws remained static until 2002, when a pistol-owning international student killed two fellow students at Monash University in Victoria, prompting a reexamination of existing handgun laws. As in 1996, the Federal Government prompted State Governments to review handgun laws, and as a result, ammended legislation was adopted in all states and territories. Key changes included an arbitrary 10 round magazine capacity limit, a caliber limit of less than .38, a firearm length limit of not less than 120mm, a more strict sporting requirement for handgun purchase, mandatory safe inspections, etc. These new laws were also derided by the gun-owning public, citing such factors as small-caliber centerfire loadings (cited as "high powered" in the popular media) being perfectly lethal and far more effective at armor penetration, that longer barrels inherently give better accuracy and greater terminal ballistics, and that a person carrying two legal 10 round magazines can shoot just as many times as a man carrying a more expensive and bulky 20 round magazine.
The new changes had a significant impact on gun ownership in Australia, requiring many law-abiding gun owners to relinquish their property for compensation, some for less than a tenth of market value, some for a good deal more than their value. This buyback was widely criticized - in the state of Victoria $A21 million was spent buying back 18,124 firearms, while in the same period Victorians imported 15,184 firearms. In most cases, gun owners did not give up their hobby, but simply exchanged now illegal firearms for new legal firearms, obviating any perceived safety value in permanently removing firearms from circulation. [4] (http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/rkba-19pop.html)
Firearms and crime in Australia
According to government reports, more than 98% of all firearm related homicides are committed by unregistered firearms. In 1997-1999, more than 80% of the handguns confiscated were never legally purchased or registered in Australia. [5] (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi151.html) Knives are used up to 3 times as often as firearms in robberies. [6] (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi159.html)
The number of unregistered or uncontrolled firearms continues to increase, with an average of over 4,000 firearms stolen a year, primarily from residences (although one gun-dealer had approximately 600 firearms stolen sometime between 1999 and 2000). [7] (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/cfi/cfi031.html) Concern has been raised about the number of smuggled pistols reaching Australia, particularly in New South Wales. This has in fact become a hot issue in recent times as some people are becoming more sympathetic to private gun owners and the burdensome restrictions placed on them, forcing the political climate to focus more on the criminals using the weapons and less on the weapons themselves.
Firearm sports at the Olympics
Some change in public attitudes to firearms has been attributed by many to publicity for high profile shooters, such as the recent overwhelming success of Australian athletes in firearm sports at the Olympics. The plight of Olypmic athlete Michael Diamond, and his struggle with the gun laws before competing in the games in order to try to break a long standing Australian gold medal record.
External links
- Gun Control Australia (http://www.guncontrol.org.au/)
- Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (http://www.ssaa.org.au/)
- 1999 government report (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi116.html)