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Comment by r_c_a_d | Hacker News Reader

As another outsider, I can remember seeing reports of mass shootings in the US every year or two for the last 30 years or so. Each time I thought "this time they have to do something" and yet the pattern continues. So to me it also seems "clear" that there isn't _enough_ will in the US to act on this.

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Yes. There is even precedent in other western countries. Australia radically restricted its gun ownership laws after a single high profile massacre. This was done by a conservative government no less! The same one that followed the USA into Afghanistan and Iraq.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australi...

Australia still has more than half the guns it had prior to that legislation.

And still has regular shootings in Sydney due to gang violence.

"Regular" being maybe 10 per year, as a guess.

As an Australian, I certainly wouldn't want to swap for the shitshow that is US gun crime.

If by 10 per year, do you mean 13 murders (not just shootings) in just Sydney in the last two years?

The US is obviously worse, but to claim Australia has control of gun violence is kind of silly. It's clearly out of police control.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/04/gangl...

I meant 10 shootings but like I say, it was just a guess.

From your link, 11 gang murders in two years seems pretty good to me.

Personally I'd consider that pretty under control.

I certainly don't live in fear of gun crime here.

> This was done by a conservative government no less!

It is entirely consistent. Law and order is something conservatives claim to support, so it is logical to want to remove instruments of crime and disorder. The fact that we can find it surprising now tells more about the intellectual trajectory of conservatives over the years. To the point that modern mainstream “conservatives” would have been seen as quasi-fascist rabid nationalists just 20 years ago.

If you look at rates of violence over time, the gun laws you're talking about had no effect. Violence continued to decrease at the same rate it did before.

It is extremely challenging to look at gun violence/firearm homicides in Australia, because the numbers are already so low that drawing statistical correlations is difficult if you're being responsible.

That being said. America, 300M people. 19,000 firearm homicides last year. Australia, 20M people, 27.

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