COMMENT
The United States of America — where a madman has more rights to own a gun than children have the right to live.
The leader of the free world is correct when he says no other country has the same gun culture and its tragic consequences.
Joe Biden appeared distraught and angry when he addressed his nation following the latest episode of the never-ending string of mass killings in the US.
“I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I was on the aircraft,” he said.
“And what struck me on that 17-hour flight — what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.
“Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why?”
The answer to that question is simple: the gun lobby is so powerful in America and politicians there are far too easily corrupted.
The high-point of John Howard’s prime ministership came early in his tenure. It was when he acted swiftly and decisively — and against strong resistance — to enact a strict gun-control regime in Australia following the Port Arthur mass shooting in 1996.
It was a brave move by a new prime minister and it was exactly the correct response to an awful crime. It was strong, clear and correct policy.
It seems that such a thing might never happen in America.
The political system is different in the US than in Australia of course, but so too is the political will.
Perhaps if the rest of the world hit America where it hurts, things might change.
Just imagine what change could be brought about if tourists decided en masse to boycott America until it got serious about protecting children’s lives. Until it changed its awful gun culture.
“As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?” the president asked.
A good question that deserves a proper answer — for the sake a profoundly wounded nation and its children.
:
Twenty-five years after the Port Arthur Massacre. An interview with Pat McNamara
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