As of the 3rd of October 2015, 294 mass shootings have occurred in the US -four or more people have been killed or injured by a gun daily.
45 of these shootings have occurred at schools and while these mass shootings often are reported in the media, the vast majority of gun deaths in the US occur in smaller, unreported incidents. According to the Gun Violence Archive, nearly 10,000 people have been killed by firearms this year, with more than 20,000 injured.
In the wake of his 15th statement to the media following a mass shooting, President Obama compared America's response to countries such as the UK and Australia, where strict gun laws were put in place in the wake of mass shootings.
This link will take you to an interactive map that tracks the location of the mass shootings in 2015.
Usually media outlets end their analysis of Australia's gun control laws at this point, with many assuming that these laws have remained in place and unchanged since the Port Arthur massacre. (The 20th anniversary will be marked on 29th April, 2016)
This assumption, however, has been responsible for the increasingly lax laws surrounding guns.
Australia's current gun laws: Where do we stand?
In the aftermath of the Port Arthur Massacre, the Howard government passed a series of new gun laws called the National Firearms Agreement and Buyback Program. The strict controls mandated by the NFA effectively banned the possession of a range of deadly weapons. In 12 days, the government managed to make the crucial change that has been missing in the US for the last few decades.
In 12 days, the government planned to restrict and prohibit the sale and ownership of a variety of semi-automatic rifles and rapid-fire guns over the course of two years.
Statistics published from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showed only "30 homicides by firearm" since the laws were introduced, roughly translating to 0.14 per 100,000 population.
Under Australia's laws, a licensed firearm owner is required to be reevaluated every five years. If authorities discover any evidence of a physical or mental barrier to responsible gun ownership, the license is revoked.
Perhaps most importantly: the number of suicidal deaths by gun decreased by 80 percent since the laws were introduced.
Regulations and rules have, however, since been introduced that have raised concern amongst Australian gun control advocates (including John Howard).
In NSW, security guards are allowed to carry high-calibre handguns and shotguns when authorised by the NSW Police Commissioner.
2008-09 saw 585 firearms stolen in NSW, a 109 increase on the previous year. Less than 70 per cent of these are recovered by police.
According to former chairman for the National Coalition for Gun Control Rebecca Peters, governments in Australia are under pressure to modify the changes to the 1996 gun laws in order to include the use of semi-automatic shotguns for sporting use.
A SMH survey conducted in 2011 showed that out of 6750 people, 86% believed that gun laws in Australia did not believe that the gun laws needed to be further tightened.
In the wake of the Sydney siege, Senator David Leyonhjelm said that Australia was "a nation of victims" with people unable to protect themselves with weapons.
His call for more Australians to carry guns were continually rejected by all sides of politics, until September 2015 in which the Government allowed the importation of the Adler-lever-action shotgun in exchange for his support on migration issues.
"These authoritarian types who don't like guns...we call them hoplophobes. It's a psychological condition."
(On the importation of the Adler-lever-action shotgun):"It's no different to other shotguns brought into Australia. They've been available for 130 years...This is an attempt to vilify Australia's 800,000 licensed firearm owners by categorising their guns as dangerous and them as criminals in waiting. It's unacceptable."
~Senator David Leyonhjelm (Source)
The verdict?
"The vast majority of Australians have the same view on this issue. My sense is that this is something the Australian public thinks we got right."
~John Howard (Source)
