Port Arthur Massacre And Subsequent Gun Control

1796 Words4 Pages

Since Martin Bryant’s massacre on Port Arthur, the legal system in Australia is amended and reformed gun laws to create a more effective legislation. Gun-related deaths have since been drawn to more efficient attention in Australian psyche, whilst the issue of gun-laws on a global level still remains as a conspiracy in many countries. The massacre left the Australian nation in shock, with a heavily involved attitude on behalf of local and national police, and thousands devastated at the aftermath. The legislation of gun-laws and amendments continues to be controversial, with punishments including Bryant’s being one of popular debate, and the general ownership and use of guns causing conflict within the interrelationship of the legal system and society.

On Sunday April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant ambushed the Tasmanian tourist destination Port Arthur and heightened the Australian death toll for a single person massacre to a ravaging 35 people. The day had good, calm weather, attracting numerous abundances of tourists to the small Broad Arrow Cafe of Port Arthur in the early morning. By 1.00 pm, an estimate of over 500 visitors were at Port Arthur, although the number died down to about 60 people remaining just before Bryant’s initiation of attack. In his first few seconds, Bryant had managed to claim three young victims, an asian couple and the girlfriend of Mick Sargent, who escaped death with a grazed scalp. Using an AR15 semi-automatic rifle, Martin Bryant’s shots were clean, fast, and unanticipated - causing people to run and hide for their lives. Many males were killed in heroic attempts to shelter their wives and children from the gunfire, with some killed instantly and many left to bleed to death at a slower, more painful ra...

... middle of paper ...

...rship, there are many highly advanced countries which still refused to ratify similar laws, such as America. The interrelationship between society and the law creates a barrier in such reforms, as even after the Port Arthur Massacre, and many others, including the Norway Massacre, societal norms incline people to want, feel the need to, and therefore fight for, their right to own fire-arms.

Works Cited

- Bellamy, Patrick, “A Killer In Profile” Turner Entertainment Digital

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/bryant/profile_2.html

- McGregor, Dale “Massacre, Murder, Mayhem” Lulu.com Publishing Inc 2007

- Unknown Author, “Politics and Economy - Gun Land” Public Affairs Television 2002

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/internatgun.html

- Writer, Larry “The Australia Book Of True Crime” Pier 9 Publishing 2008

Show More
Related

  • What Really Happened in the Boston Massacre?

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the night of March 5th, it is believed that a small group of boys began taunting a British soldier. Over the boys’ nonsense, the soldier battered one of his oppressors with his musket. Soon after the alleged incident a crowd of about fifty or sixty people surrounded the frightened solider. The enraged crowd of people sounded the soldier, encouraging him to call for backup. Soon after calling for help, seven soldiers along with Captain Preston...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Gun Control Dishonesty By Charles C. W. Cooke

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    Guns have possessed the spotlight of almost every news station. From the latest tragedy of a shooting killing innocent men, women and children to the arguments centering around if our gun laws possess strict enough qualities to keep our country safe. Charles C. W. Cooke, the author of “Gun-Control Dishonesty”, spreads his conservative view on the topic by ripping away any hope for a brighter day. Cooke’s main idea states that if nothing has happened to make gun law more strict even after the lives of  innocent children were mercilessly ripped away from their young bodies than nothing should or could ever change. On the other hand, Adam Gopnik wrote his article, “Shooting”, uses a more liberal approach and inspires his audience to act upon the much needed change in our society

    Read More

  • Warren E. Burger's The Right To Bear Arms

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Former Chief Justice of the United States (1969 – 1986), Warren E. Burger, was published in the January 14, 1990 edition of Parade Magazine for his work entitled, “The Right to Bear Arms”. In his essay, he questions the modern age standards being held for one to purchase a firearm, with an aim to tighten up those regulations. To argue his case he has provided record breaking homicide statistics from 1988 and states that some of the metropolitan centers in the U.S. “have up to 10 times the murder rate of all of Western Europe”, where strict gun control laws have been placed.

    Read More

  • The Ludlow Massacre: The Battle Of The Colorado Coal Strike

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Twenty lives were lost, including two of the striker’s wives and eleven children, but only one of these lives belonged to the National Guard. With this in mind, it can be debated whether or not this event should be considered a battle or a massacre. Some have argued that, because of the striker’s retaliation, the event should be considered a battle, but because of previous abuse and the guard’s disregard for who they were firing at it and careless destruction, it should be considered a massacre.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: Gun Control: Annotated Bibliography

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author has made an insightful contribution to the grey areas of gun licensing that is part of a wider encompassing debate on gun control and violence. It is a well-researched piece that presents

    Read More

  • Shootings By Adam Gopnik's Influence Of Gun Violence In America

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    ”(Gopinak, 2007, p. 458 ). This demonstrates that United States is just not inclined to take any action on gun control which is leading to deaths of children and adults. Some individuals believe handguns are not needed in American 's society. Then those who oppose gun control argue guns are a necessity to: hunting in the wild, self-defense, and it is part of the American culture. Furthermore, gun violence is having a vast impact on loved ones; losing a family member can have enormous affect socially, physical and mentally.

    Read More

  • Research Essay: Gun Control (Rough Draft)

    1995 Words  | 4 Pages

    The topic of gun control became an element for discussion among Americans in the early 1930s when mob and gang crime was at an all-time high. The term “Gun Control” refers to a set of laws set in p...

    Read More

  • Gun Control: Annotated Bibliography

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this article the author Fawn Johnson gives us a brief look of what goes on during the great gun control debate. This article gives us a look at the gun control proposals, from American’s not bein...

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Gun Control

    1769 Words  | 4 Pages

    Opposing sides have for years fought over the laws that govern firearms. For the purposes of this paper "Gun Control" is defined as policies enacted by the government that limit the legal rights of gun owners to own, carry, or use firearms, with the intent of reducing gun crimes such as murder, armed robbery, aggravated rape, and the like. So defined, gun control understandably brings favorable responses from some, and angry objections from others. The gun control debate is generally publicized because of the efforts of the Pro-Gun Lobby or the Anti-Gun Lobby.

    Read More

  • Kleck's Argument For Gun Control

    1725 Words  | 4 Pages

    This point is substantiated by the fact that having a privatley owned firearm in a household, makes a family member five times more likley to be fatally shot than in a non-armed household. Perez-Pena (2015) articulates that each year around 30,000 preventable deaths are caused by firearms which accounts for 18% of injuryrelated deaths in America. It is also stated that the accociated medical bills cost the taxpayer $100billion a year. Prehaps the most intresting point raised concerns the so called ‘gun show loophole’, in which guns sold at shows or by small scale sellers do not require buyer background checks, in theory allowing the categorically banned demographic - discussed earlier - to purchase firearms. The article argues that if this loophole was closed and more stringent controls and checks were enforced, firearm deaths, injures and the associated cost could be significantly reduced. In essence the argument for stricter gun control laws centres around decreacing firearms deaths and

    Read More

  • The Effects and Consequences of Gun Control

    2071 Words  | 5 Pages

    “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The right of all Americans to bear arms is a right the Founding Fathers held to equal importance as the Constitution itself. Gun control laws directly violate this right and therefore should not even be under consideration. Even if that issue is overlooked, gun control advocates state that in order to reduce firearm related violence, gun control laws must be implemented to remove the violence caused by firearms. Although this may seem reasonable, the consequences of such laws are ironically counterproductive; they exacerbate the problem instead of fixing it. Besides the fact that the American Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to bear arms, the idea of restricting gun ownership in order to reduce firearm-related violence would ultimately fail given the previous experiments of gun control in England and in numerous states.

    Read More

  • Gun Control and School Shootings

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...

    Read More

  • The History of Guns in America

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    What is the importance of the gun? The gun is one of the most important tools in the defense of our nation. Guns are responsible for a lot of death and injuries, but these things were going on before the existence of the gun. Guns aren't the reason for the death and injuries, they are just a means to it. They are tools and an engineering marvel of our age. The gun has evolved from a simple weapon that caused limited destruction to the modern gun that is so fast and powerful it is capable of mass destruction. Through the evolution of the gun, it has become a political tool.

    Read More

  • The Right to Own a Gun

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans have made it clear they reject most government intrusions on their basic civil rights, including the right of gun ownership. According to an April 18, 1994 study by Penn and Schoen Associates, Inc. as many as 85 percent of American adults said they are unwilling to forfeit basic civil liberties even if it could enhance their personal safety. 75 percent agreed that police and the justice systems couldn’t protect them; people said they have to take more responsibility for safeguarding themselves. 62 percent said the need for personal guns ownership is increasing, and a majority is unwilling to accept laws that restrict gun ownership greatly.

    Read More

  • Should Gun Control Laws be Stricter?

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every day some news related to gun violence are being heard all over the world. Shooting in driveway, public places, schools, homicide and suicide are some of different types of gun violence. Shooting on people and killing them is a big issue in the world and different comments are provided about that. One of the most important of them is about gun control laws. Stingl (2013) says “The term gun control as it is used in the United States refers to any action taken by the federal government or by state or local governments to regulate, through legislation, the sale, purchase, safety, and use of handguns and other types of firearms by individual citizens.” According to this idea gun control laws should be stricter and people should not be able to have access to guns easily. However, there are many other people who believe this idea is not a good solution and never help. This essay will demonstrate for and against views about the topic. People who agree with this idea consider: firstly, stricter laws will reduce violence and gun control means crime control. Secondly, some research shows people with gun are more at risks of getting shot. Thirdly, guns can always be misused by their owners and finally, stricter law is the best and the faster way to control crime and make community safe. While opponents say first of all, guns are necessary for people safety and protection. Secondly, guns are not the only tools for killing and violence; there are other weapons too and finally, gun ownership is human rights.

    Read More

More about Port Arthur Massacre And Subsequent Gun Control

Open Document