Gun control laws need to be protected

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PolicyAbout usView Subscription OffersThe Examiner's complete view of propertyHome/Comment/National OpinionGun control laws need to be protectedApril 10 2016 - 9:00amApril 10 2016 -

9:00amFacebookTwitterWhatsappEmailCopy AUSTRALIA’S gun control laws are an international model and the country needs to keep them that way. 

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50% off EOFY SaleAll articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperCrosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll other regional websites in your areaContinue As it nears the 20th 

anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, the nation has a chance to reflect on how those laws are faring. 

No doubt the Howard government acted promptly and decisively in tightening gun control laws after the killings in 1996. It was an example of brave reform that is not seen enough in politics.

But as Walter Mikac told Fairfax Media ahead of the anniversary of the massacre in which he lost his wife Nanette and two daughters, Alannah and Madeline, it is feasible that things could

have gone another way. 

Australia might have failed to respond to the massacre with reform. The same has happened in the United States, where despite horrific mass shootings at Sandy Hook and Charleston, gun

control has not tightened. 

Howard acted differently. But the US example shows just how fiercely we need to advocate our own gun control laws and protect them from those who want to weaken them. 

There are threats to Australia’s gun control regime. And there’s room for improvement too. 

Howard himself thinks it’s inadequate. He told an audience of SBS program Insight last week that there was something wrong with the laws if NSW Police employee Curtis Cheng could be fatally

shot at Parramatta last year. 

“I'm wholly against any watering down of the existing laws, and I would encourage sensible strengthening of the existing laws," Mr Howard said.

“Once you give people access to weapons and those people snap or exhibit a mental illness, then you will have tragedy.”

This is a key point. There are people who are capable of major acts of destruction, whether through revenge or otherwise. 

Guns amplify the scale of the destruction they cause in a horrific and tragic way. We need to ensure they never can.  

While Australia is looked to as a model by gun control advocates in the US, there are threats to its firearms legislation. They are real but also insidious. 

The problem is that Australia’s gun control laws could, bit by bit, end up being diluted and weakened. 

All it takes is for a government to have to negotiate with a crossbencher who will promise support if an element of the country’s gun control laws are removed. 

Bits are taken out, and at each point the crossbencher gets their concession, and the government gets its legislation through. And the community grows more at risk again from gun crime. 

Australians may not notice this happening, believing they still have model firearms control laws. 

The matter stays off the agenda and people grow less safe without realising it.

This kind of compromise has already happened.

Senator David Leyonhjelm last year cut a deal with the government to ensure a sunset clause on a ban on the Adler lever-action shotgun.

The weapon has similar speed and firepower to banned varieties of shotguns, according to Mr Mikac.

But the government made this deal and gained Leyonhjelm’s support on migration issues. Similar deals could be made. 

Mr Mikac’s call for Australia to avoid complacency about gun control should be listened to carefully. 

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