Gun control advocates in the U.S. often cite Australia as the shining role model of what type of policies they want their own government to adopt to reduce the high occurrences of mass shootings around the country. However, Australia is now dealing with its worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996.
On Friday, seven bodies – three adults and four children – were discovered on a property in the southwestern Australian tourist town of Margaret River. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, police are handling it as a murder-suicide.
In the aftermath of 1996’s Port Arthur massacre – in which a gunman killed 35 people and wounded 23 others – the Australian government implemented a mandatory gun buyback program. The government collected over 660,000 guns where the owners were compensated for their firearms and their guns were destroyed.
Former President Barack Obama praised the Australian model of gun control during his presidency, saying in 2015, “We know that other countries in response to one mass shooting have managed to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings. Friends of ours, allies of ours, Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it.”
It should be noted that Great Britain is now dealing with a spike of knife-related violence, to the point where London Mayor Sadiq Khan had to implement knife control. London’s murder tally is also currently leading New York’s for the year.
In 2014, Australia was hit by a hostage crisis in which a “self-styled” Muslim cleric held 17 people at gunpoint inside a Sydney cafe, killing two.
The point is this: while some data suggest that super-strict gun control has cut down on gun violence and gun-related deaths in some cases, there’s still no guarantee that you’re safe.
