Australia got it right after the Port Arthur Massacre. If they could do it, we can too.

[emmaverybo]

Snip————————————-

The Port Arthur massacre of 28–29 April 1996 was a mass shooting in which 35 people were killed and 23 wounded in Port Arthur, Tasmania. The murderer, Martin Bryant, pleaded guilty and was given 35 life sentences without possibility of parole. Fundamental changes of gun control laws within Australia followed the incident. The case is regarded to be among the most notable massacres in Australia's history.[3]

Snip—————————————

Following the spree, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, led the development of strict gun control laws within Australia and formulated the National Firearms Agreement, restricting the private ownership of semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and pump-action shotguns as well as introducing uniform firearms licensing. It was implemented with bipartisan support by the Commonwealth, states and territories.[36] The massacre happened just six weeks after the Dunblane massacre, in Scotland, which claimed 18 lives, with U.K. Prime Minister John Major reaching out to his counterpart over the shared tragedies; the United Kingdom passed its own changes to gun laws in 1997.[37][38]

————————————————————

Event history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)

[Hoyt]

1. Exactly. And Aussies seem quite satisfied with the laws.

[malaise]

2. Look how quickly New Zealand responded to their mass slaughter

earlier this year

[many a good man]

3. But OUR government is broken

and our house is on fire

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. We need same, of course.

This is the 216th day of the year.
There have been 251 mass shootings in the USA, according to..

gunviolencearchive.org

[Coventina]

5. Exactly. n/t

[moondust]

6. "genuine need" to own

I think both Australia and New Zealand have made this part of their gun laws since their mass shootings. No doubt there are some people living out in the boondocks whose livestock may be threatened by wolves or other predators, or they live beyond the reach of timely law enforcement and feel they need to protect themselves. There may be other legitimate reasons to own firearms. "I'm scared" and "I don't feel omnipotent without my 'persuaders'" and "I don't get no respect if I ain't packing" don't qualify.

[Thyla]

7. IMHO

It's a good model to follow but I can't imagine that transition would go anywhere as near as smoothly as it did in Oz.

Too many nutters out there waiting for their last stand.