Background
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a gunsmith, and a good one. Got my first .22 (Krico) at age 15.
At the time, almost anything was legal, although to own an SLR in the most of the states, you had to be a professional culler of vermin (wild cattle etc.)...Queensland and Tasmania allowed ownership of SLRs and AR15s. The other states stopped at SKS etc.
Personal Protection has never been considered a "Genuine Reason" to own a firearm, all applications were to be "sporting" (unless you are rich and famous, and there's another set of laws).
At the time, the then Premier of NSW was pushing for a complete and utter ban of all privately owned firearms. He took it to an election, and got annihilated ... His made a speech in 1987, which included the line "There will never be National Firearm Laws until there is a massacre in Tasmania"
Decided not to be a gunsmith, and chose a career that I thought at the time I could least retire from.
In 1996, about 6 weeks after Britain's Dunblane Massacre, I was driving, and listening to the radio, when news came across of a massacre at Port Arthur in Tasmania, with 35 people killed. Said to my Mrs, who was in the car..."There goes private gun ownership"
Massacre was allegedly performed by a bloke called Martin Bryant, a scarcely functioning mental deficient, one of whose alleged weapons was an AR15 which had been handed in to the Police in an amnesty in another state some years prior. In approximately a minute with this rifle, he killed 20 people, 19 head shots, wounded 12 others, firing from the hip, in an enclosed building sans hearing protection...and 29 shots fired(*)
National outrage of course.
Thousands of pages of legislation were wheeled out within weeks, much of it must have been waiting in the wings given the timeliness.
Prime Minister "met" sporting shooters, wearing a bullet proof vest (illegal to own in the country), and we got rolled.
All semi-auto longarms illegal, all pump shotguns illegal. Oz' famous gun buyback took place, a 0.2% tax placed on every worker...a legally owned 10-22, or mini 14 would get you $150-$200 back.An illegally owned SLR L1-A1 many thousands, as they tried to flush the big hitters out of the black market.
Statistics have shown a reduction in firearm homicide (admittedly starting at a massacre will help that trending), but if you look really closely, it's mostly suicides that are trending away from unavailable guns...they are still suiciding, just with ropes, ledges, cars etc.
(*) other strange co-incidences on the issue.
- Tasmania purchased a morgue bus at one stage capable of holding over 20 bodies. It got used but once.
- Local Police were called away to investigate a white powder, ensuring they couldn't get there.
- ASIO/ASIS personnel happened to be holidaying in the area en masse, and were recalled from their holidays to assist the investigation.
- (alleged) Perps mug shot was on television that night, even though he was under arrest and charged...no contempt of court.
- Witnesses stated that the bloke with the long blonde hair was not the one in the cafe.
- A royal commission (our highest review) was rejected as putting victim's families through too much
- The case, and everything pertaining to it is under "D notice", unavailable for national security reasons.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a gunsmith, and a good one. Got my first .22 (Krico) at age 15.
At the time, almost anything was legal, although to own an SLR in the most of the states, you had to be a professional culler of vermin (wild cattle etc.)...Queensland and Tasmania allowed ownership of SLRs and AR15s. The other states stopped at SKS etc.
Personal Protection has never been considered a "Genuine Reason" to own a firearm, all applications were to be "sporting" (unless you are rich and famous, and there's another set of laws).
At the time, the then Premier of NSW was pushing for a complete and utter ban of all privately owned firearms. He took it to an election, and got annihilated ... His made a speech in 1987, which included the line "There will never be National Firearm Laws until there is a massacre in Tasmania"
Decided not to be a gunsmith, and chose a career that I thought at the time I could least retire from.
In 1996, about 6 weeks after Britain's Dunblane Massacre, I was driving, and listening to the radio, when news came across of a massacre at Port Arthur in Tasmania, with 35 people killed. Said to my Mrs, who was in the car..."There goes private gun ownership"
Massacre was allegedly performed by a bloke called Martin Bryant, a scarcely functioning mental deficient, one of whose alleged weapons was an AR15 which had been handed in to the Police in an amnesty in another state some years prior. In approximately a minute with this rifle, he killed 20 people, 19 head shots, wounded 12 others, firing from the hip, in an enclosed building sans hearing protection...and 29 shots fired(*)
National outrage of course.
Thousands of pages of legislation were wheeled out within weeks, much of it must have been waiting in the wings given the timeliness.
Prime Minister "met" sporting shooters, wearing a bullet proof vest (illegal to own in the country), and we got rolled.
All semi-auto longarms illegal, all pump shotguns illegal. Oz' famous gun buyback took place, a 0.2% tax placed on every worker...a legally owned 10-22, or mini 14 would get you $150-$200 back.An illegally owned SLR L1-A1 many thousands, as they tried to flush the big hitters out of the black market.
Statistics have shown a reduction in firearm homicide (admittedly starting at a massacre will help that trending), but if you look really closely, it's mostly suicides that are trending away from unavailable guns...they are still suiciding, just with ropes, ledges, cars etc.
(*) other strange co-incidences on the issue.
- Tasmania purchased a morgue bus at one stage capable of holding over 20 bodies. It got used but once.
- Local Police were called away to investigate a white powder, ensuring they couldn't get there.
- ASIO/ASIS personnel happened to be holidaying in the area en masse, and were recalled from their holidays to assist the investigation.
- (alleged) Perps mug shot was on television that night, even though he was under arrest and charged...no contempt of court.
- Witnesses stated that the bloke with the long blonde hair was not the one in the cafe.
- A royal commission (our highest review) was rejected as putting victim's families through too much
- The case, and everything pertaining to it is under "D notice", unavailable for national security reasons.