America’s gun problem is so much bigger than mass shootings
Source: The Guardian Unlimited
US politicians often cite Australia as providing a model of impactful reform. Here’s why such blueprints likely won’t work to combat gun violence in the US
A disturbed man with an AR-15-style rifle walked through a popular historic site in 1996, shooting up the cafe and gift shop. He left 35 people dead and 19 seriously injured.
The country’s conservative leader pushed through immediate, sweeping changes to gun laws. Chief among them was a ban and mandatory buyback of more than 600,000 semiautomatic rifles and other long guns, which were then melted down. In all, one researcher estimates, the government ultimately destroyed about a million weapons – roughly one-third of its total gun stock.