The debate on guns is over, at least in the USA. The anti-gun side has lost. Even prominent lefties like Kos are pro-gun. And there are an awful lot of guns and guns enthusiasts out there. That’s just the kind of place America is.
It’s a curiosity, then, to see the issue from over here in Australia. Obviously, Australia’s a different place. It’s more British than American, and if you’re a moderate, you’re a lefty-moderate, not a righty-moderate like in the USA. There are parallels, though: the feisty independence, the rurality of much of the country. But here, handguns are tightly controlled, gun groups are not terribly effective, violent crime is pretty low, and most people don’t see the need for any of this to change. There’s a particular aversion to ‘going down the American path’, partly because of TV carnage and news coverage, and partly from the historical resentment of Americanism that bubbles just below the collective Australian psyche.
Most curiously of all, the conservative Prime Minister John Howard is staunchly anti-gun. Here are some comments from today:
“We did a lot more in 2002 and 2003 with handguns, but we really must resolve as a nation never to go down the American path.
“There are many things about America that I admire, but I do not admire their gun culture.”
How’s about that? In lots of other ways, Howard’s the Bush-in-training: he’s used immigrants to divide voters, he’s big into privatisation, he’s tried to gut higher education, and on Iraq he was one of Bush’s biggest enablers. So this issue has always been an unusual departure to my view.
Maybe Howard’s like Bush the Elder. Like Howard, I couldn’t stand him, thought he was wrong, and knew he’d done some real damage to the country. But now that we’ve seen Junior in action, I’d have to admit that he was a man of some character who was able to maneuver around some tricky problems.
I guess comparing anyone to Bush the Younger isn’t really helpful. No one’s going to suffer from that comparison. Even Nixon starts to look good.
27 April 2006 at 11:40 pm
Hi, although I believe John Howard is pro gun control he is also a consumate politician who has a good radar for issues which are popular or not.
He usually waits until the debate is measurable in terms of public opinion which equates to some sort of polling.
The debate is in the public arena this week because of the 10th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre after which JH brought in new gun control laws for rifles, not handguns.
Handguns get into the criminal world mostly from thefts from licensed gun owners who have guns at home. Licensed gun owners are allowed to own semi automtic handguns reasons for which there can be very little convincing argument.
Seems like the targetshooters are better armed than our police.
Hence the stolen, soon to be in the hands of criminals, guns are often the most dangerous.
In Sydney we have had something like 3 weeks of daily drive by shootings mostly in the south west.
John Howard may have an honest desire to rein in gun ownership but he always has an eye on the timing.
Call me cynical but a new identy card announcement when the Government is in trouble about AWB?
JH always has his eye on the political advantage so look for tough new handgun laws when he sees the time is right- let’s hope it wont require another massacre.