Author: Joe Vialls

http://vialls.homestead.com/Australian1.html

Slaughter sparks call for federal gun laws

from page 3 of The Australian, April 29, 1996

by John Ellicot, Katherine Glascott and AAP

Readers should note this newspaper went to print late on 28 April 1996, the day of the mass murder at
Port Arthur. At that time even the Tasmanian Police Service had no idea which guns had been used, much
less that they were "military weapons", as detailed below in this stunning piece of apparent ESP from the
federal Attorney General's Department.

The Federal Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Mr Daryl Williams, last night

described the Port Arthur massacre as an "appalling tragedy" and has undertaken to
press for changes to gun laws.

Mr Williams's reaction came as the gun control lobby called for immediate federal
intervention to bring in a national gun code and the Australian Medical Association
called for an urgent national summit.

A spokeswoman for Mr Williams said he would place gun laws on the agenda at the
police ministers council meeting in July.

"Gun controls are a State and territory responsibility and some States have been
reluctant to impose restrictions that the Commonwealth regards as appropiate," the
spokeswoman quoted him as saying.

She said he supported uniform gun laws and greater restriction on the types of
weapons available and who can get them. "There is no justificiation of the private
ownership of military weapons," he said.

However, the Shooters Party spokesman and NSW MLC, Mr John Tingle, said
tighter gun laws would not stop massacres such as yesterday's. Mr Tingle said that
although gun laws in Tasmania were "a joke" -- you could own a machine gun for life
with a $30 licence -- tighter gun laws would only affect law-abiding citizens.

"Tighter gun laws in NSW didn't stop the Terrigal and Crescent Head shootings," he
said, adding he would support greater checking of people seeking gun licences.
A Coalition for Gun Control member, Associate Professor Simon Chapman, said the
uniform laws should ban private ownership of semi-automatic rifles and introduce steep
annual licence and registration fees and far tougher guidelines on who can own
firearms. "The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, must take immediate action and show
leadership to prevent Australia going further down the American road of increasing
levels of gun violence," he said.

The gun control coalition's Tasmanian co-ordinator, Mr Roland Browne, said
Tasmania had the slackest gun laws in Australia and high-powered and
semi-automatic rifles were advertised for sale in Tasmanian newspapers "every
weekend". Mr Browne said Tasmania's laws were a legacy of the rural sector and both
the Liberal and Labor parties had pandered to the gun lobby.

Mr Brown wrote to the Hobart Mercury newspaper in March [one month before the
mass murder] warning of a Dunblane- style massacre in Tasmania unless the gun laws
were changed. "We've got the weakest laws in the country, there are no controls on
military style high- power weapons, no registration of guns and weak licencing
requirements. "Even up until 1993 it was just open slather."

Professor Chapman said State governments in Tasmania, NSW and Queensland,
which have no gun registration, were cowering in political fear of the gun lobby "while
the whole community waits anxiously for the inevitable incidents like (yesterday's)".
He said bipartisan political support for uniform strong gun laws was long overdue but
unlikely "while gutless State politicians keep on referring gun slaughter to backroom
committees".

The vice-president of the AMA and organiser of a national forum on firearm safety,
Dr Keith Woolard, has urged a planned national summit for July be immediately brought
forward. "The summit should include all parties including gun control and gun lobbies.
We've got to do something -- this carnage has got to be stopped," he said.

"It's an issue John Howard has to lead on. It's distressing and upsetting to all
Australians. The level of gun violence could clearly be reduced if we can ensure that
having a gun is a privelege and that everyone who owns a gun behaves like a
responsible gun owner."

"But certainly in terms of many of the deaths that occur from guns it's very likely that if
we do have national tougher gun laws then we will substantially cut the death rate from
guns." He said Australia had the second highest gun death rate after the United States
-- "a rate that we should be ashamed of".

There were more than 500 gun-related deaths in Australia every year.

sangraal

P.S. People are startimg to talk about this in the pubs down here
now --- which is a good thing.

PPS

couple of chemtrails over sydney today --- we only get hit every month or so.