Integrity in the face of influence.

Integrity in the face of influence. 

On the 28th April 1996 in Port Arthur Tasmania, with the aid of an L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle and a colt AR-15, Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people and injured 23. The Port Arthur massacre not only shocked Australia, it captivated the interest of the world. The senseless carnage of that day is still regarded worldwide as one of the deadliest massacres orchestrated by one individual, and is a dark moment in Australia’s history.

martin bryant

I have had the opportunity to stand at the spot near the Broad Arrow Café Port Arthur where Martin Bryant shot dead twelve people and wounded ten in a time span of twelve seconds, the thought almost inconceivable that so many could lose there life so quickly.

However cold blooded and needless these deaths were, the incident was used as a precedent by the then Howard Government to pass strict new gun laws with bipartisan support. The new laws banned and heavily constrained the legal ownership and use of self-loading rifles, self-loading and pump-action shotguns, and heavily tightened controls on their legal use. A Market Value buy back scheme funded by a short term raise in the Medicare levy saw 643,000 firearms handed in at a cost of $350 million, whilst thousands of other firearms were voluntarily handed in with no financial reimbursement.

In the decade preceding the tragic events at Port Arthur, Australia had lost 33 people to massacre style shootings as a collective of three considerably smaller yet equally disturbing shootings. However the scale of Port Arthur was unprecedented in modern Australia and it took only 12 days to enact the proposed amendments to gun laws, which was progressively legislated. Those amendments wich came to fruition in August 1998 has undoubtedly made Australia a safer place.

The sorts of weapons that could see 22 people killed or wounded in a matter of 12 seconds were now banned. In the 17 years that have passed there has never been a Port Arthur style massacre & the decrease of gun relate homicide & suicide has greatly accelerated.

In the face of  “advocation Groups” the government worked with integrity, not bowing to the high influence of the minority, instead using the deaths as a means of positive change and not a means of trepidation as they so easily could have done.

Recent Events in the United States of America have escalated the continually heated argument surrounding the United States second amendment “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” a constitutional right advocated by the highly politically influential group the NRA (National Rifle Association) and millions of Americans.

However when 20 primary school students are killed executing their right to an education it makes you wonder what “right” out weighs its reason. The right of the people to keep and bear arms in 1787 in contrast to now might not have changed but a questions appears by replacing the word “right” with “necessity”. Is it a necessity for the people to keep and bear arms? A Subjective argument and the grounds of heated debate in my opinion, no. Is it a necessity to have a safe and effective education? Absolutely, and this has never and will never change.

Scenes outside of Sandy hook Elementary School during

the Newtown Massacre Dec 14 2012

Governments have a right to enact judgments with the support of the people or in spite of the people. Decisions are not always popular; the 1996 decision in Australia to ban self-loading rifles, self-loading and pump-action shotguns was admirable change in the face of vociferous opposition by NRA style organizations, although the public support was in favor of change, without the actions of Port Arthur change might never have happened. It is never the hope for tragedy to occur for change to come to pass however historically governments act out of retrospect and not foresight.

The United States has lost 210 people (not including the perpetrators) to massacre style shootings in the past ten years. That’s 23 opportunities to ride the wave of public tragedy to enforce policy that would benefit future generations.

Instead they’ve gone the other way, fighting fire with fire and erupting its population into a state of apprehension.

In the small Texan town of Harrold teachers are allowed to wear concealed pistols to protect their students. In Australia a teacher carrying a gun would be incarcerated in America it’s considered OH&S.

How can a society function when the basic levels of authority are blurred to the point of nihility. 
What a chilling and grim prediction of Americas progressive decent should this sort of vigilantly style protection be encouraged by it’s own government.

Seung-Hui Cho perpetrator of the Virginia Tech Massacre  

Although I don’t always respect the actions carried out by all police officers, I always respect the power they encompass. When push comes to shove they have the authority to ensue lethal force. I wonder though in the mind of an American civilian with a gun at their side…what power does a police officer really have in the moment?

Now I’m not daft enough to believe gun law amendments could be implemented to completion at anywhere near the cost, time or ease than it did in Australia, but there is nothing other than the bully & under handed tactics of “advocation” groups from stopping the topics serious consideration. It’s a call on integrity. 

I have never in my life thought myself “dispossessed of my rights” because I’m not allowed to carry a gun. I have not felt unsafe to sleep in my own home or at risk going to crowded events. Instead of allowing teachers to have a gun, at the very least try to create a functioning modern society like the one we as Australians live in where a teacher doesn't have a gun not because it's illegal but because they don't feel the need to carry one. 

It’s true guns don’t kill people, people kill people…however those who aren’t guided with any moral compass shouldn’t have the ease of access to instruments that can perform the slaughter of dozens in a matter of seconds. 

 -Caleb Sutherland.