Could Australia’s Gun Laws Work In The U.S.?

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A lot of anti-gun folks like to trot out the idea of implementing Australia’s gun control laws in the United States. They talk about how wonderful and rosy that kind of situation would be in the U.S. and all that type of nonsense.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s set aside whether we think that Australia’s gun control laws are a good idea (I think they’re idiotic, but I digress…), and let’s get to the basic issue of whether Australia’s gun control laws could even be implemented here in the United States.

Given the fact that current gun control laws aren’t being enforced, why should we think that adding more gun control laws to the books would change the situation at all? The answer is that we shouldn’t.

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But it’s not just pro-gun people like me who think that it would be impossible to implement Australia’s gun control laws in the U.S. In fact, Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Joe Hockey, who is anti-gun himself, says that they couldn’t be implemented here.

Hockey expressed these views both on social media and in an interview with journalist Molly McCluskey. Here is part of that interview:

OK, Joe. Following the Vegas massacre, you tweeted that, essentially, guns are more cultural and pervasive in the U.S. than in Australia. What do you mean by that?

Australia and the United States are completely different situations, and it goes back to each of our foundings. America was born from a culture of self-defense. Australia was born from a culture of “the government will protect me.” Australia wasn’t born as a result of a brutal war. We weren’t invaded. We weren’t attacked. We weren’t occupied. That makes an incredible difference, even today.

So could the United States replicate Australia’s success?

It’s too arrogant for me to express an opinion about another country.

Fair enough. But you seem to think it couldn’t be easily replicated.

Well, like I said, our histories are completely different. The U.S. had a horrendous civil war, with more casualties than every other war combined. We didn’t have that history. It really went to the core of what it means to defend your people. And so you have a second amendment based on an antiquated view of what it means to be occupied.

But the gun culture is so ingrained in America. I can’t wrap my brain around impulsive buys, no cooling off period, no mental-health checks. I’m stunned there’s not more road rage here given the number of guns.

So, like so many anti-gunners, Hockey thinks that guns cause violence on their own without any help. Just see his implication that more guns should mean that we have more incidents of road rage and his confusion that more road rage isn’t happening.

But, unlike anti-gunners here in the U.S., Hockey at least understands that Australia’s type of gun control isn’t going to go over here in the States because Americans love their guns. And we do. And part of the reason why we do is because we know that our guns help to keep us safe from our government. History doesn’t indicate that Australia will have that option when their government completely overruns their rights.

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29 COMMENTS

  1. Wait. Australia was born from a culture of “The Gov. will protect me”. Australia wasn’t born as a result of a Brutal War. They weren’t invaded. They weren’t attacked. They weren’t occupied!!!!!!!! Duh No they were a penal colony. Some one needs to brush up on their History…

    • YA they were a penal colony the people were there to be kept away from society and only the guards had guns ( like Schindler’s list ) ….

    • What is now the state of Georgia was too, if my memory for history still works. By the way, via an an ex Australian I worked with years ago, the following might prove of interest. Australia started as a penal colony, common knowledge. People being what they are, grandfather went out to Australia, as a guard of course. Seemed as if everyone’s forebearers were guards, leaving one wondering as to what they were guarding. Of course, time passed, fashions changed and in some quarters there came to be a certain panach or style in having a rogue or two in the family tree, while the present generation were all citizens upstanding, of course. Though the foregoing might provide a chuckle or two.

  2. Australia took all guns away from Law Abiding citizens and the media won’t tell u that crime is up 20 plus percent. We might as well put a green light on porches letting the criminals “this is a gun free home. U know what happens next. More gun laws to protect the criminals,that’s what gun controls does.

  3. ABSOLUTELY “NO”!!! LEAVE OURS ALONE
    IDIOTS NEED TO HAVE IT BURNED IN THEIR HEADS PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE NOT GUNS.
    AUTOS KILL MORE THAN GUNS SO WHY DO YOU HAVE ONE?

  4. Interesting , The Founders gave us the Bill of Rights, they, they nailed them to the wall of every government office, with the 2nd Amendment.
    Soo, what do you think that Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal Greece, And Italy have in common.?
    Leaving aside that they ar all DEMOCRACIES.
    Well they have all been disarmed by their government..
    Do you know what else they have in common?
    As soon as their liberal government disarmed them, they passed laws making it illegal to say nasty things abut the government
    So tell me what do you think would happen here in the USA if the liberal scum disarmed the citizenry?

  5. NO and now AUSSIES are suffering astronomic firearm criminality. WHU? CRIMINALS DIDNT GIVE UP THEIR GUNS?? no way

  6. There are some major differences between Australia and the US. First, we have a completely different history in that we won our independence from Great Briton through the gun while Australia did not. Second, we have the second amendment in our constitution which documents our God giving right to keep and bear arm for our defense, Australia does not.
    Australia’s gun laws do not work there and no amount of cherry picking news coverage will change that. The violent crime rate went up after the Australian government took away the ability of the subjects to defend themselves. While that may be what the democrats want here so that the citizens of this country can’t defend ourselves, I do not believe that will ever happen without a civil war. Remember, one of the reasons for the American Revolution was the British attempt to disarm the colonies.

    • If there is or when we have a civil war, there will not be fifty states in America. I believe it will be split up this time, with the southern states being free and the northeast and western states being of socialist countries. Our southern states like before having the constitution of now with very few changes, and yes we’ll have to have a wall around our border with strict immigration laws;) and term limits for all govt

      • Actually I think your wrong, the dems win up here because they buy votes. Our poverty level is 150% of the federal level, which buys a lot of votes. But what happens when they loose there source of income and can no longer afford to pay for that welfare? The Soviet Union fell apart because most of the people quit working because they got tired of working while others didn’t work. That the problem with socialism. People will help those that need it, but those that can and should work.

      • Not sure if the socialists have enough fire power to keep up. Here in Kalifornistan the few demowits that do own guns don’t have the stomach for a civil war. Then you have the gang members….ever wonder why they shoot into a crowd? It’s becsuse they are lousy at marksmanship and traditionaly cowards. Areas like LA and San Franfreako will be like shooting ducks in a pond.. The only thing you have to worry about is getting some sort of disease….the piles of crap in Berkeley are part of the news.

  7. Australia’s gun ban was forced on the people of Australia hence police state dictatorship. Comply or be shot fact the violent crime rate with guns in Australia has gone up since not down. The people are at the mercy of the criminal with a gun witch by the law should not even be there and beg for their lives. That just won’t fly in America land of the free home of the brave. These are not just words they are fact. The 2nd amendment isn’t only to protect Americans from the government. It is our freedom & liberty from the government also the freedom to protect self, friends, neighbors, from criminal felons who would kill for a dollar. Sorry the lives of my family & friends are worth more than a dollar to me. The anti gun morons who would give up that rite for false safety do not deserve safety or freedom. We need a law not against guns in America we need a law against any anti gun idiots so they can be sent to a Communist country to find out the truth about that gun free zone. Also need to rid our schools of Communist brain washing teachers who have taken over our schools. When they get back to America they will kiss the ground they were born in and head right to the nearest gun store to arm themselves !!!

  8. To put it simply, NO country’s gun laws will ever fit the United States. Not the turn in all your guns and we will protect you mentality. Because gun owners won’t turn them in and the government CAN NOT protect you. Besides by definition most agencies are law ENFORCEMENT, not citizen protection. Also, the mandatory, arm everyone won’t work because there are too many people who, by law should not have a gun. Felons, mentally ill and disturbed and those restricted by agencies because they have foster children and etcetera. The only sane thing is to stop making stupid laws because the laws made previously are not enforced. People need to realize that a gun is, of and by itself, not any problem whatsoever. It is people that are the problem.

  9. Americans won’t be giving up the 2nd, without bloodshed. It was put in for “We the People” to defend ourselves from a tyrannical government. I will hand over my guns to liberals as soon as all my ammo is gone or I’m dead. You are free to give up your rights, NOT MINE!

  10. Um, uh, the good Ambassador Hockey seems to have left out the part about Australia having been a PENAL COLONY, to which Englishmen (and women) could be sentenced, for nineteen specific crimes. (I might add that, in celebration of that fact, there’s a wine labelled by that name!) I suppose you could say that, yes, they were of the mindset that “The government will protect me”, since they were theoretically in government custody, although actually the government of England was protecting Englishmen and women, from THEM. By the way, how many shootings per year does the Australian government FAIL to protect their subjects from? Yes, we were born out of violence, and, frankly, have reduced it to an art, but we are the only nation in the world that maintains an unrivaled level of freedom, and an unrivaled ability to keep it. We might also point out that merely living is not 100% safe, anywhere in the world

  11. We don’t need anything from the “Crown” We fought the Bloody British in a town called New Orleans. We beat the english, because many American were riflemen (early assault weapons) The limeys put a price on riflemen because they were deadly accurate The english brought Slavery to the US. I don’t need a thing from the Queens servents. Hell we saved their asses from the Germans not one, but twice. We just need to handle murders, as we once did. Stop spoiling the child, by sparing the rod! I got spanked in school, didn’t hurt me. You see kids learn when you screw up society extracts the punishment. Learning process. Retired Senior NCO US Army. I could go on and on. READ American HISTORY!!! But Schools don’t teach it! Thank a democrat, they are the enemy, have been for years.

  12. Oh Yes ! I forgot something important. We sent GUNS fro the U S A to england because they were afraid for Nazi invasion after Dunkirk. They left all their guns when they ran home.

  13. Why can’t we ban ignorant anti-gun advocates for their senseless comments on what THEY think would be good for everyone else? Why instead don’t they educate themselves on who’s pulling the trigger in these shootings, and who’s to blame? The individual, not the firearm. I’ve not heard of one report of a RESPONSIBLE, LAW ABIDING CITIZEN/GUN OWNER being the perpetrator of a mass shooting, not one! So for all the anti-gunners out there, EDUCATE YOURSELVES.

  14. To clarify, Australia did not have gun control, Australia had gun confiscation, this is the little fact that the anti-gun loons in this country tend to skip over. To do that here is asking for a revolution.

  15. There will be no gun confiscation in America. To attempt it would be initiating a Civil War. An attempt by British soldiers to confiscate the arms of the Colonists ignited the war that led to the creation of America and another attempt would have the same results.
    Gun confiscation worked well for Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, etc. who murdered millions of their own citizens after disarming them. Only an idiot would turn in their arms. Only idiots support a “Gun Free America” and we have plenty of them.

  16. maybe if we got rid of the illegals , criminals and minorities which are becoming the majority

  17. Re the question posed at the outset,there are four chances of that working here. Fat,Slim, Little and No.

  18. If they come for my guns, they will have to take my bullets first… straight out of my barrel!!!!!

  19. HELL NO! NEVER! THE AUSSI GOVT ORDERED THE PEOPLE TO GIVE UP THERE GUNS AND DIS ARMED THERE CITIZENS AND MOST DID BUT THE MUZZY’S DID NOT! THEN THERE CRIME RATE WENT SKY HIGH! TRY IT HERE AND GET YOUR ASS’S KICKED GOOD!

  20. When I encounter an ant-gunner who asks if I’m a “gun nut” my response is “No (usually mam), I’m a freedom nut!”
    I then explain that I’m prepared to sacrifice my life to ensure my children and theirs have those rights!
    I would like to ask( but have better sense not to) “Are you willing to sacrifice your life by trying to take those rights away from me?”

Comments are closed.