Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Calm and measured discussion about the right to "practical self-defense" was necessary in the wake of the deadly Sydney siege, a pro-gun Australian senator said on Thursday.
David Leyonhjelm, federal crossbench senator for the Liberal Democrats, said Australia is a nation of "disarmed victims," unable to protect themselves with weapons.
The Sydney siege would not have happened in Texas or Florida, he said.
"What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas or Vermont or Alaska in America, or perhaps even Switzerland as well," Leyonhjelm told local broadcaster ABC on Thursday.
The senator said it was "unforgivable" that Australia had turned into "a nation of victims."
"It would have been illegal for them to have had a knife, a stick, a pepper spray, a personal taser, mace, anything like that for self-defense," he said. "I regard that [as] an absolute travesty."
"(Tougher laws) didn't prevent him (the gunman) from getting a gun. It's just not acceptable that we are all disarmed victims."
Leyonhjelm quit the Liberal Party in 1996 when then-Prime Minister John Howard brought in harsher firearm licensing laws and banned semi-automatic weapons in response to the Port Arthur massacre that killed 35 people.
In the 12 years up to Port Arthur, 13 gun massacres in Australia killed 107 people. Since then, there has been just one that killed five people up until the tragic Sydney siege on Monday.
Leyonhjelm, who once chaired the Shooters Party, has been swiftly condemned by current and former politicians.
Tim Fischer, deputy prime minister from 1996 to 1999, called the comments "seductive nonsense."
"Debate will always go on in a good democracy, but where it is built on a pack of lies from the National Rifle Association (NRA) it should be dealt with swiftly," Fischer said on Thursday.
Greens acting leader Adam Bandt, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and New South Wales Premier Mike Baird were equally critical.
"The idea that we will make Australia safer by becoming more like the United States... just beggars belief," Bandt said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2014-12/18/c_133863226.htm