It is evident that Australia is facing a problem of violence. Recent tragedies that we have witnessed right in our backyard have clearly indicated this situation to the community.
The most recent of these incidents, happened in Melbourne last year on October 21, when two innocent Monash university students were shot dead and another five where injured, by another student wielding semi-automatic handguns. It was later found that the alleged gunman was a member of various gun clubs and legally owned seven different lethal handguns.
A tide wave of shock and horror swept across the country, while feelings of anger where also voiced "How could we have let this happened?".
Hence, the issue of gun ownership and stricter gun laws was revived.
It is obvious to anyone that Australia needs to consider tougher gun laws, this includes the banning of all hand guns in the community through a possible buy-back, with the exception for policing, security purposes or legitimate sport, although certain restrictions will need to be applied here.
Receiving gun licenses should be made just as tough with policies such as psychological testing for applicants.
This will no doubt make tragedies like the Monash shootings less likely, while at the same time ensuring the people of Australia feel safe, secure and not at risk in their own communities.
We need to ask ourselves "What can Australia do to prevent these tragedies from occurring?" .
The answer is that we should do all that it can to prevent anything like this from ever occurring again.
No one should live in a society where they are afraid of being killed by a gun. Where is the sense of safety in a community where students are scared to attended school in fear of being shot dead?.
It is a pity that it takes an incident such as this to open the eyes of our government, and lives to be lost before our insufficient gun laws are exposed.
Studies have shown that the relationship between handgun homicide rates and overall homicides rates are almost perfectly linear, meaning that the proportion of guns used on homicides attacks rise and fall with gun ownership.