On November 16, ABC Net published comments of Australian Senator David Leyonhjelm warning the US to steer clear of Australian-style gun controls, which he said have turned Australia into a “nation of victims.”
Leyonhjelm said the 1996 gun controls instituted by PM John Howard have made “no difference” in the behavior of criminals. The only difference now is that armed criminals have the benefit of going against unarmed victims.
According to ABC Net, Leyonhjelm said, “The criminals still have guns. There’s a very vigorous black market for guns, so it’s not made the slightest bit of difference.”
In an interview the with NRA’s Ginney Simone, Leyonhjelm explained that that Howard’s 1996 gun ban was framed in the trappings of a gun buyback but was really “a confiscation with compensation program.” And besides taking 650,000 guns away from Australians, the action “removed the right to own a gun in any state in Australia for self-defense.” Thus the birth of the “nation of victims.”
Leyonhjelm said, “You cannot own a gun for self-defense. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances, doesn’t matter how big the threat, you cannot defend yourself.”
On October 16 Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton suggested the Australian gun ban model was “worth looking at” as it relates to gun policy in the U.S.
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