THE DEMENTED SENATOR
I won’t be carrying a gun, and I don’t want you to either
“What happened in that cafe would be most unlikely to
have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or
perhaps even Switzerland as well,” Senator Leyonhjelm told ABC Radio — adding at least “one or two” there would have had a concealed gun.
If that’s the likely case, then I’m to assume that dozens of people
would have been carrying arms at Port Arthur on April 28, 1996. Somebody
could have taken out Martin Bryant.
And guns might have been blazing at Julian Knight in Hoddle Street, Melbourne, August 9, 1987.
But despite our gun laws at the time, Australians simply weren’t in
the habit of entering restaurants, using public transport, visiting the
zoo or going to the cricket armed to the teeth.
Senator Leyonhjelm would like to see us get into the habit. He wants
us to carry a weapon so we can, in a nutshell, kill people should the
need arise. Just how many nutcases does he want to see armed?
It’s ludicrous for him to postulate that the outcome that evolved in
Martin Place would have been ‘unlikely’ in America because armed
citizens could have easily dealt with the perpetrator. He needs to do a
bit of research on the mass shootings in America and note how many of
the murderers were taken out by an armed citizen. I think he’ll find
that all – or if not all, then close to it – were left to the police to
deal with.
What happened in Martin Place was tragic. Very tragic. And despite
the deaths of two innocent people I’d rather live in a country where
such situations were always left to the police.
I won’t be carrying a gun anywhere, and I hope don’t want you too either.
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