No one has the freedom to murder college students nor is anyone advocating the right for people to do so. . Why did you say that if not to ellicit an emotional respose rather than a reasoned one?

Why we can't have a gun registry is the same as to why we can't have a religion registry or a speech registry, it violates a person's right to privacy.

You saying the right to bear arms equals right to murder college kids is like me saying right to freedom of religion equals right to fly planes into buildings or freedom of speech equals right to distribute child pornography.

Owning a weapon that can kill people with the twitch of a finger is not a right, and it wouldn't lead to real rights being revoked. The fact that some people believe that is mind boggling. Unless you live in the sticks and need to fight off animals, there is simply no valid reason for you to need one.

Guns are specifically used for killing, religion and speech or not. And there are limits on free speech too (fire in a crowded theater, slander, etc. etc.). Someone who has an ounce of mental illness (or hangs around with people that do or has family members that do) shouldn't be able to be near buying a gun. And registering a gun doesn't mean you can't own one so your rights to own one aren't infringed.

Real rights are being taken from us constantly, and there may come a day when people will need guns to defend themselves not just against each other but against the government, and I wish to be prepared for that day or have my decendants be prepared.

You yourself indicated that there are assholes out their who I'm guessing are not going to care to much for the prohibition of guns and I would therefore like a gun to defend myself from them.

Also as indicated by this story would you also support the banning of knives as three people were killed by them? Hell your far more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident then die is a shooting massacre.

Have you also considered what the impact of 3D printers will be given the even in the earlt stages of the technology being introduced, they can print working guns? How will you stop people from possessing firearms when all they need to do is print one out. In that scenario where it is practically impossible to stop lunatics from possessing guns, I would much rather be armed to defend myself rather than hoping I dont find myself in trouble.

And you dont support banning guns, you support a gun monopoly in the hands of the state.

Guns are specifically used for shooting, which can include killing, wounding or warning someone that you can defend yourself. And killing or wounding are not necessarily bad if you are defending yourself from an attacker. Guns are tools that can be used for bad or good depending on their use. Religion or free speech can also be used for good or bad depending on their use.

And yes your right that registering a gun does not infringe one's right to own a gun, it infringes one's right to privacy, just like asking people to register their religion does not violate their right to religion, but their right to privacy.

Mental illness is not an excuse for an individuals actions, simply an explanation. Whilst it may seem the experts are making excuses, it's more about analysis and preventing this stuff from happening in the future. I have no doubt there are cases of mentally ill patients that have been prevented from carrying out stupid acts of violence based on the lessons learnt from events like this (course we don't hear about them, why would we if no one's died?).

It's better the "experts" analyse the events and come up with a potential solution then people just jump on the first ban x, y, z bandwagon.

This thread is full of complete and utter biased crap on both sides, starting with many of the points in the OP article.

But personal attacks and vitriol stop, or the thread gets locked.

Clearly it can't be the fault of the NRA pushing so hard to deregulate the industry and get guns into the hands of more people, right?

That's why Australia's massacre rate has skyrocketed since the Port Arthur Massacre that triggered the massive gun buyback scheme and dramatic increase of gun control here that was implemented by a conservative government...

Oh, right. Since that gun control introduction, there has been a total of ONE gun massacre in Australia. In nearly 20 years. With that one happening more than 12 years ago. Here's the list of years in which gun massacres happened in Australia in recent history: 1984, 1987, 1987, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2002... and none since then.

Is it that we Australians are inherently less bloodthirsty than Americans? Or is it that gun control actually works, when it's applied across an entire country rather than having a different law in each state allowing those with intent to massacre being able to just cross state lines to get hold of the guns they'll use?

Yes, to hell with facts. What's important here is that those who like guns and want more of them out there are being unfairly slandered, while those evil liberals are getting off scot free when they should be attacked all-out for their abuse of 'facts'.

this thread is going to get locked.. very few actually discussing anything important with far to many personal attacks

this incident has more to do with mental health than it does gun control. this guy was going to kill people no matter he had a gun or not.

and as someone who strongly supports the right to firearms, i appeal to other supporters to be open and realistic about them. There are many different types of firearms, with different purposes. Some are meant for hunting, others for marksmenship, and yes others for killing people. There is an entire market for guns specific for protecting yourself against PEOPLE.

Are you seriously claiming that liberals do not often during gun control discussions, misrepresent the facts and make emotional arguments as opposed to reasoned ones?

Also gun deaths were already on the decline before the gun control laws were introduced in Australia in 1997.

Gun Deaths in Australia 1987 = 569

Gun Deaths in Australia 1997 = 333  Ten Year Deline = 236

Gun Deaths in Australia 2007 = 190  Ten Year Decline = 143

Australian Bereau of Statistics (ABS). Causes of Death publication series

Australia is just a more peacefull country than America is.