Remember this:
The Liberal Democrat made the comments in an interview with the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) which was screened on YouTube.
His interview appears in a clip attacking presidential hopeful and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton over her pro-gun control stance and comes as the race to the White House heats up.
Senator Leyonhjelm told the NRA that Australia should not be a model for gun control, stating that John Howard’s 1996 gun legislation – pushed through in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre – had made “no difference”.
“We are a nation of victims,” he said.
“You cannot own a gun for self defence … the criminals still have guns. There’s a very vigorous black market for guns, so it’s not made the slightest bit of difference.
“If you want a gun, you can get one.”
Now we get a much more sober contribution from former PM John Howard:
Former Australian prime minister John Howard has re-entered the US gun debate, declaring it is “incontestable” gun-related homicides fell significantly after he introduced strict laws following the Port Arthur massacre.
Speaking on CBS’ Sunday Morning TV news program, Mr Howard said he was compelled to act after 35 people were gunned down at the Tasmanian historical site in 1996.
“It is incontestable that gun-related homicides have fallen quite significantly in Australia, incontestable,” Mr Howard said. “I mean, if you had 13 mass shootings before Port Arthur and you had none since, isn’t that evidence?
“And you had a 74 per cent fall in the gun-related suicide rates, isn’t that evidence?
“Or are we expected to believe that that was all magically going to happen? Come on.”
Indeed, homicide gun numbers have also fallen to a 100 year low, from the Australian Institute of Criminology:
It was a policy to proud of, Mr Howard, and you should defend it vigorously.
After all, the counter-argument that ‘it’s not guns that kill people, it’s four-year-olds that kill people’ is preposterous, from the Daily Heil last week:
A Florida mom shot by her four-year old son while driving in Florida stole almost $500 worth of shorts using her baby’s stroller as cover.
Jamie Gilt, 30, was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department on April 4, 2013 after she was detained by security guards at Dillard’s department store in the town.
The prominent gun rights activist was spotted stuffing children’s clothes into her purse and hiding the bag in the child’s stroller.
There are 1.22 guns for every US citizen. In Australia is it 0.2. Makes a difference.
