Steven Mace
04-29-2002, 03:31 AM
Australia's PM: 'I hate guns'
By Our Staff
29/04/2002
With illegal handguns rife on Sydney’s streets, Australian Prime Minister John Howard believes – completely erroneously – that the answer is to ban legal guns.
“We will find any means we can to further restrict them, because I hate guns,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB. “There is no earthly reason for ordinary citizens ... to have weapons. Something close to gang warfare has hit Sydney in recent months. A police officer is among those murdered.”
“Ordinary citizens should not have weapons,” said Howard. “We do not want the American disease imported into Australia.”
Conservative PM Howard risks losing support from rural communities, which are angered by his proposals. In 1996, Howard pushed through laws outlawing semi-automatic weapons and high-powered rifles after a lone gunman shot dead 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania in April of that year. Australia paid gun-owners A$300 million to buy back more than 640,000 firearms. Handguns are still legal in Australia, but few people beyond police, military and security guards own them.
Oddly enough, the rise in violent crime has coincided with a huge increase in the volume of heroin available on Sydney’s streets. If Howard really thinks that imposing measures on legitimate firearms will help solve the illegal use of firearms in crime then he must be completely stupid - either that, or his own prejudices are impeding his ability to confront the real problem head on.
http://www.leadshot.com/story.asp?id=538
Steve Mace
By Our Staff
29/04/2002
With illegal handguns rife on Sydney’s streets, Australian Prime Minister John Howard believes – completely erroneously – that the answer is to ban legal guns.
“We will find any means we can to further restrict them, because I hate guns,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB. “There is no earthly reason for ordinary citizens ... to have weapons. Something close to gang warfare has hit Sydney in recent months. A police officer is among those murdered.”
“Ordinary citizens should not have weapons,” said Howard. “We do not want the American disease imported into Australia.”
Conservative PM Howard risks losing support from rural communities, which are angered by his proposals. In 1996, Howard pushed through laws outlawing semi-automatic weapons and high-powered rifles after a lone gunman shot dead 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania in April of that year. Australia paid gun-owners A$300 million to buy back more than 640,000 firearms. Handguns are still legal in Australia, but few people beyond police, military and security guards own them.
Oddly enough, the rise in violent crime has coincided with a huge increase in the volume of heroin available on Sydney’s streets. If Howard really thinks that imposing measures on legitimate firearms will help solve the illegal use of firearms in crime then he must be completely stupid - either that, or his own prejudices are impeding his ability to confront the real problem head on.
http://www.leadshot.com/story.asp?id=538
Steve Mace