Oprah looks to Australia for inspiration for US gun law reform
Media superstar Oprah Winfrey has urged Americans to look to the land down under for inspiration to prevent tragedies like the February 14 Parkland shooting and other mass shootings in the United States.
Winfrey, who has become increasingly active on social issues in recent months and gave a rousing speech at the Golden Globes in support of the #MeToo movement that even sparked rumors of a presidential run in 2020, has now thrown her support to students protesting gun violence in the United States and says they’re looking at Australia’s tough gun laws as a model for reform.
‘We see what’s happening with our young people who have said ‘enough is enough’,’ Winfrey said on ABC News…show more content… Holders of such licenses have to demonstrate ‘genuine reason’ for wishing to own a firearm, which in turn must be registered by serial number to the owner.
The impetus for the country’s stringent firearms regulations came after a series of mass shootings in the 1980s and 1990s, the most notable of which was the deadly Port Arthur massacre in April 1996 in which 35 people were killed and 23 others wounded by a deranged gunman named Martin Bryant.
The mass killing shocked and horrified the Australian people and prompted the Australian government to institute much stricter gun laws, codified in the National Firearms Agreement in 1996. The law sought sweeping bans on semiautomatic and fully-automatic weapons in the country and also created a weapons buyback program. Though critics have said that the law is too restrictive and infringes on personal rights, others say it’s saved countless lives by lowering the country’s murder rate and cut mass shootings like the Port Arthur massacre down to virtually none since its adoption.
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