In response to the last gun violence incident, presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton is staking out territory on gun control. It’s not much of a step compared with what John Howard was able to do in Australia. But at least she is putting her hand up.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a campaign event at Broward College,
Hillary Clinton has staked out a tough position on gun control, vowing that if elected president she will introduce universal background checks and to scrap legislation that protects manufacturers from lawsuits by victims.
The response from the nutcase right was predictable:
Conservative commentators fired back during Fox News program Fox and Friends on Sunday morning.
“The other side of the that argument, of course, is – and what people always throw out there – is look at Australia,” one of the hosts said. “They have no gun violence, they don’t have guns, citizens aren’t allowed to have guns.”
Last week in Sydney, in what appeared to be a completely motiveless act of violence, a young Muslim man walked up to a civilian police employee outside apolice station and shot him in the back of the head.
Within minutes, he lay dead, shot by two special constables.
Well, that’s the “good guy with a gun” argument. Two people, one the young 15-year-old and the other a father of a young family dead in the streets of Sydney. If the young man had not been able to get a firearm, this wouldn’t have happened.
And everybody in Australia realises this.
Including New South Wales Premier Mike Baird who said that the people who supplied the gun would be dealt with by the full force of law.
Something that would never happen in America.
Another proponent of gun freedom in America said “They (Australians) also have no freedom,” You can go to prison for expressing unpopular views and people do.” This was an apparent reference to Australia’s racial vilification laws.
We have significant freedoms in Australia and one of the most important is the freedom to send our kids to school knowing that they will not be at risk of random gun violence.
If the price of this is denying citizens access to firearms, then the vast bulk of the Australian nation is prepared to pay this price.
Tim Haslett's Blog 