Australian Gun Control: Lesson Learned

David A. Lombardo

In an article in the online publication Second Amendment, Nick Adams gives the Australian perspective on gun control and ISIS. While the article has been widely cited as having been written after Australia's recent attack, in fact Adams wrote the article last September in response to the ISIS threat. 

In 1996, following a shooting rampage in Port Arthur that left 35 people dead and 18 wounded, and after a series of highly visible mass shootings, Australia implemented highly restrictive laws on private ownership of automatic and semiautomatic firearms, initiated a gun buyback for high-powered rifles and began firearm registration and licensing. If the Australian press is to be believed, reportedly as high as 90 percent of Australians favored the scheme that resulted in about one-third of all firearms being turned over to the government. While it's true that Australia has restrictive firearms laws, rifles and shotguns, including semi-automatic, as well as handguns, are legal within a narrow set of criteria. 

As of 2007 about 5.2% of Australian adults, or about 765,000 people, own and use firearms. Individuals are not allowed to carry a firearm, and all firearms must be secured when not in use. In general the government has made firearm ownership more trouble than it's worth in the eyes of many Australians... until now. 

In his September 18th article, ISIS Plot: Now Australians Wish They Were Armed, Adams wrote, "Never before have I felt so naked. Now more than ever, I wish I was armed. And I'm not alone. Any and all home-grown Islamic terrorism should be able, if need be, to be met by a well-armed civilian militia. The United Kingdom has had two beheadings of members of the public in the last two years, with neither Police nor civilians able to prevent it. It has prohibitive gun laws." 

The press is doing everything it can to make the recent Australian terrorist attack in the café look like anything other than a terrorist attack, but for my money, when the shooter makes the hostages hold an ISIS flag in the window while pointing a gun at them, it's terrorism, plain and simple. 

From my perspective there are two lessons to be learned from this. The first is our government in general, and the press specifically, are doing everything they can to downplay the ISIS threat in the United States. Perhaps it's to suppress panic, but the cynic in me suggests otherwise. Get real; the issue is no longer if terrorism manifests itself in the United States but rather when terrorism will manifest itself in the United States. 

The second lesson to be learned is never, under any conditions, even consider giving up your Second Amendment right, or any portion of it, to own any firearm to protect yourself, your family, your community and our nation. We must not simply remain vigilant of our Second Amendment rights, but we must doggedly pursue the removal of all laws that restrict the right of law abiding citizens to be armed anywhere, anytime. The Australians gave up that right, and now they're beginning to regret it. 

Liberty lost is far more difficult to regain than it is to prevent its loss to begin with. I don't know about you, but for my part I do not ever want to pen the words, "Never before have I felt so naked. Now more than ever, I wish I was armed."

Prosecutor cuts deal with killer

after penalizing law-abiding gun owners

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is both astonished and disappointed that King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg's office announced a plea bargain with a two-time killer that involved dropping a serious gun charge only weeks after helping pass a gun control measure that penalizes law-abiding firearms owners. Satterberg's office announced a guilty plea from Ja'Mari Alexander-Alan Jones in the murder of DeShawn Milliken at a Bellevue Square restaurant/bar, noting that a firearms charge was dropped as part of the deal that will send Jones to prison. Had the case gone to trial and Jones been convicted of murder and the firearms charge, he could have faced a much longer prison sentence, according to published reports. "I am stunned that Dan Satterberg's office cut this deal with the thug who had previously done time for the killing of Edward 'Tuba Man' McMichael in 2009," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "Instead of throwing the book at Jones," Gottlieb said, "Satterberg's office dropped the gun charge. That's outrageous, especially after Satterberg prominently campaigned for I-594, a measure that was touted as a means of keeping guns out of the wrong hands - people like Jones - when all it really seems to do is penalize and inconvenience law-abiding gun owners and criminalize perfectly legal activities."

Congress passes spending bill

with ammunition protection

The U.S. Senate, in a 56-to-40 bipartisan vote, approved the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for FY15. The U.S. House approved the measure late last week. Though not a perfect bill, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) supported it because of an important provision that further prevents the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from banning traditional ammunition made with lead components. The measure also provides ATF with $22 million dollars in additional resources to provide industry members with more efficient customer service. Funding is also included to help improve the NICS background check system by helping states put more mental health and other disqualifying records into the system. Finally, the bill provides $3 million in grant funding for a firearm safety education and gun lock program like Project ChildSafe. NSSF will keep you posted on issues of importance to our industry as the 113th Congress comes to a close.