Howard never believed people should own guns, and the opposition parties, Labour and Greens, generally agreed. MPs didn't vote on it, since Australia really doesn't have any federal gun laws. What the National Firearms Agreement did do was make state laws uniform and to what Howard wanted. Howard and his cabinet told states that pass it or else lose federal funding. States acted after months of government propaganda pushed by government owned media like ABC. Opposition was small mostly because Australia doesn't have that many gun owners per capita and, quite frankly, were not allowed to speak out.
A rabid gun lobby, backed by financial and political power,
The financial power isn't that great. It is about the same as Planned Parenthood, but the grass roots force is much larger. What the writer is really saying, is that he doesn't like democracy when it isn't going his way.
Fact is, Howard didn't save any lives. There were just as many mass shootings as before, still mass murders by arson, gang drive bys.
Mr Howard will always be remembered as the PM who brought gun control to Australia but, as he has always been quick to point out, he could not have done so without the support of senior Nationals in the Coalition.
Men like Tim Fischer and John Anderson had the task of convincing their constituents – many of them farmers who needed their guns – that the government was not unfairly targeting them, and that the new gun laws were for the benefit of all Australians.
Gun control always existed in Australia. The PA shooter didn't have his guns legally because his low IQ and history of violence prevented him from obtaining a license if he were to apply to one. They all required licenses, half of the states had registration.
He was unfairly targeting target shooters and farmers, they are the only ones affected. Biker gangs making their own machine guns are not affected. Neither are drug dealers.
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