I Went After Guns. Obama Can, Too.

[MightyMopar]

I Went After Guns. Obama Can, Too.

IT is for Americans and their elected representatives to determine the right response to President Obama’s proposals on gun control. I wouldn’t presume to lecture Americans on the subject. I can, however, describe what I, as prime minister of Australia, did to curb gun violence following a horrific massacre 17 years ago in the hope that it will contribute constructively to the debate in the United States.

I was elected prime minister in early 1996, leading a center-right coalition. Virtually every nonurban electoral district in the country — where gun ownership was higher than elsewhere — sent a member of my coalition to Parliament.

Six weeks later, on April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant, a psychologically disturbed man, used a semiautomatic Armalite rifle and a semiautomatic SKS assault weapon to kill 35 people in a murderous rampage in Port Arthur, Tasmania.

After this wanton slaughter, I knew that I had to use the authority of my office to curb the possession and use of the type of weapons that killed 35 innocent people. I also knew it wouldn’t be easy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/opinion/australia-banned-assault-weapons-america-can-too.html?hp&_r=1&

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

1. "SKS assault weapon"... LOL, what?

A standard factory SKS has NO pistol grip. It does not have a detachable magazine. Up to TEN bullets are loaded into the top of the rifle by hand with the bolt open. It fires an INTERMEDIATE power round... it's not even in the same power class as other common hunting cartridges (.30-06, .308, 6mm ...). Functionally, it's pretty much the same as any other semiauto hunting rifle. A factory SKS is NOT an assault weapon.

[GeorgeGist]

3. OK

SKS assault rifle


Armalite assault rifle.

[MightyMopar]

5. Nothing like gun porn!

Posts like this should be banned from DU

[Lady Freedom Returns]

6. That looks like the one in above pic on...

Performance enhancing drugs! This gun a friend of Armstrong I take it?

[Lady Freedom Returns]

4. That does NOT look like an assault weapon.

It puts me in the mind of a single shot .22 .

[spin]

2. While that might have worked in Australia ...

there is little chance that it will work in the United States.

The simple political reality is that we have a much stronger gun culture and 80,000,000 gun owners with 300,000,000 firearms. Gun owners vote and they do not support draconian gun bans such as was implemented by this individual in his home nation. Any attempt to accomplish what he was able to achieve in Australia could lead to an insurrection and the break up of our nation right down the middle rather than North and South. Such activities MIGHT fail in the end but the bloodshed and damage to our society would outweigh any advantages that would be achieved.

We do have a major problem with gun violence in our nation but we can significantly reduce it by passing reasonable effective laws and changes to our current laws coupled with better enforcement and improvements in our mental heath care system. We could probably reduce gun violence in half by merely realizing that our War on Drugs was lost decades ago and legalizing many drugs. Chicago had many gun deaths last year and most were caused by drug gangs fighting over turf.

The bottom line is that it is far easier to ban and confiscate firearms in a society that far fewer gun owners and firearms than our nation.

Reality is a bitch.

But of course I might be wrong. For those who feel that we should ban evil looking rifles or even all semi-auto firearms and even those who feel we should ban all civilian firearms I can only suggest you keep trying as you must feel that you are fighting the good fight. I may personally disagree with you but in our form of democracy you have every right to attempt to change our laws. I hold no animosity toward you. Call your elected representatives and donate generously to gun control organizations. If you wish change you must realize that talk is cheap and action might just work. Of course I will suggest the same for those who strongly support gun rights. Let's have a good debate and a fair fight and let the best side win.

I seriously hope that in the end we will end up with some truly reasonable changes to our gun laws that will reduce gun violence and make mass murder a true rarity.

[MightyMopar]

7. America is changing, that's why the RWNJ are buying their military weapons, they're scared of change

We heard the same spin when they said we could never have a black president!

[spin]

8. Who knows. You might be right. ...

When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s no one believed that we would ever have a black president.

However in 1988 Jesse Jackson ran for that office.

Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, 1988

The Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, 1988 was Jesse Jackson's second campaign for President of the United States. This time, his successes in the past made him a more credible candidate and he was both better financed and better organized. Although most people did not seem to believe he had a serious chance at winning, Jackson once again exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting R.W. Apple of the New York Times to call 1988 "the Year of Jackson".[1]

***snip***

Results

Jackson captured 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina and Vermont).[6] Jackson also scored March victories in Alaska's caucuses and Texas's local conventions, despite losing the Texas primary.[1] [2] Some news accounts credit him with 13 wins. [3] Briefly, after he won 55% of the vote in the Michigan Democratic caucus, he was considered the frontrunner for the nomination, as he surpassed all the other candidates in total number of pledged delegates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Jackson_presidential_campaign,_1988

So the writing was on the wall 20 years before Obama won and 20 years after the shooting of MLK.

I'm not saying America will never be disarmed. I am saying that it simply is not going to happen in the next couple of decades unless something truly tragic happens such as a successful attempt on Obama's life. I worry about this a lot as the result would be rioting and bloodshed across our nation. Even if such a tragedy did occur I doubt if an attempt to confiscate all firearms would be successful but undoubtedly stronger gun laws would pass. That's what happened in the past after the assassination of JFK, RFK and MLK led to the Gun Control Act of 1968. Of course there are conspiracy theories about these murders and some slight possibility that they were not caused by "lone gunmen." I suspect there are some powerful groups in our nation that would love to see Obama replaced and would not be concerned in the least about the resulting stronger gun laws as it might enable them to grab even more power. (Don't get me wrong. I don't walk around wearing a tin foil hat.)

If you are in favor of draconian gun laws and confiscation I really have no problem with your opinion although I disagree with it. Any well functioning democracy has a wide range of views on most subjects. All deserve fair consideration and if you disagree with the direction the nation is going than participate in the debate and show up at the polls and vote. That's only fair and just.

What bothers me the most about our nation today is that we no longer have honest and respectful debates but we all insult each other and behave like unsupervised children on a playground. Our nation has often had contentious times in our past but I feel that radio commentators and 24/7 news channels are playing games and choosing sides in order to create profit. Our nation is far more polarized today than I can remember anytime in my lifetime This saddens me as I fear for that my grandchildren will suffer because we are unable to solve the serious problems we face.