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John Howard goes on American TV and perfectly schools them on their gun problem.

 

John Howard has once again waded into the US gun debate.

A staunch advocate for stringent gun laws, Howard famously passed the National Firearms Agreement in 1996 following the Port Arthur Massacre. It changed Australia’s gun use forever; curbing mass shootings, suicide, and gun-related violence.

And now, as the US continues to battle ongoing gun violence, our former-Prime Minister is delivering some tough love to the American people.

John Howard appeared on America’s CBS to talk about his hardline stance on gun laws.

Appearing on CBS’ Sunday Morning TV news, Howard didn’t hesitate to point out the dramatic results from Australia’s strict gun laws.

“It is incontestable that gun-related homicides have fallen quite significantly in Australia, incontestable,” Mr Howard said.

“I mean, if you had 13 mass shootings before Port Arthur and you had none since, isn’t that evidence?

“And you had a 74 per cent fall in the gun-related suicide rates, isn’t that evidence? Or are we expected to believe that that was all magically going to happen? Come on.”

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is campaigning for America’s right to own a firearm.

Gun ownership is a hot topic in America at present, with Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz passionately defending their citizens’ right to buy and own firearms.

In contrast, Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton and current President Barack Obama are pushing for change, and are looking to Australia as an example.

The numbers of Americans killed in gun violence is staggering: 280, 024 people have been killed by guns in the last decade. There was an astounding 372 mass killings in 2015 alone, with 64 of these taking place at schools.

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Obama spoke on the topic in October of last year, moved to tears by the intensity of the situation.

“Have news organizations tally up the number of Americans who’ve been killed through terrorist attacks in the last decade and the number of Americans who’ve been killed by gun violence, and post those side by side on your news reports,” he said.

“We spend over a trillion dollars, and pass countless laws, and devote entire agencies to preventing terrorist attacks on our soil, and rightfully so. And yet, we have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths. How can that be?”

Barack Obama was moved to tears when speaking about gun control last year.

It seems remarkable that any presidential candidate can still advocate gun ownership, amidst what can only be described as an epidemic. As Howard noted in his recent TV appearance,

“People used to say to me, ‘You violated my human rights by taking away my gun.

And I’d [say], ‘I understand that. Will you please understand the argument, the greatest human right of all is to live a safe life without fear of random murder.’

The TV special also spoke to Carolyn Loughton who lost her 15-year-old daughter Sarah at the Port Arthur massacre. Carolyn covered her daughter with her body – but it was too late. On the issue of whether America should adopt Australia’s gun laws, Carolyn said: “I am loath to comment, but my question is: how is it going for you over there? But I can’t answer that for you. My heart goes out to all of you, over there in America.”

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