Former PM John Howard says Australia needs to undertake a “sensible strengthening” of the gun ban imposed by his government in 1996.
Howard was motivated for a stronger gun ban after 15-year-old Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad “stormed a police station” in October and killed 58-year-old officer Curtis Cheng. The Daily Mail reported Jabar left the police station elated, chanting, “Allah, Allah.”
Yet rather than focus on the ongoing danger posed by Islamists like Jabar, Howard wants a tightening of gun laws for law-abiding citizens throughout Australia.
The Australian quotes Howard telling SBS’s Insight, “I would have thought that everybody would agree, if 15-year-olds can get hold of weapons like that, there is something wrong with the laws.” He added, “I’m not going to preach at the state government over this — they have to make a judgment about it. But I’m wholly against any watering down of the existing laws, and I would encourage sensible strengthening of the existing laws.”
Howard overlooks the fact that France has some of the most strict gun laws in the world, yet Muslim terrorists have had no problem acquiring guns with which to kill in Paris. Two Muslim terrorists shot and killed twelve in an attack on Charlie Hebdo headquarters on January 7, 2015, then a larger contingent of Muslim terrorists shot and killed 130 in Paris on November 13, 2015.
The United States witnessed the same horror in San Bernardino, California, where universal background checks, gun registration requirements, a one-handgun-per-month purchase limit, and other extreme gun controls proved impotent to stop the December 2 attack that killed 14.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.