(06-02-2019, 02:59 AM)hazard Wrote: Looking at the Australian and New Zealand approach to mass shootings, I'm not so sure about that. Hell, the Australian government who passed its laws on gun restrictions got their asses kicked in the following election regardless of how clearly necessary and publicly supported it was. Although admittedly they went for thorough and effective legislation.
Honestly, Howard and co didn't lose because of gun laws. They lost because one, they had been in for several terms already, and the usual flow of government was against them. Two, they'd earned a lot more hatred by introducing a flat Goods and Services Tax, which they'd made Not Doing the central focus of their previous election campaign. They'd been blasted by that particular broken promise for years, no matter if the long run has helped show it was the good choice. Finally, they lost because Howard was a racist prick, and the swing in public culture after the Pauline Hanson mess made his actions towards indigenous Australians and illegal immigrants a lot more unacceptable (Getting caught out falsely claiming parents were throwing their children into the ocean REALLY didn't help). By the time the election came around, the guns were a non-issue.