Tel-Chai Nation

There are things for which Australian prime minister John Howard is rightly lauded, but his views on gun control are decidedly not one of them. From ABC Online (via The House of Wheels):

The Prime Minister has used the 10th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania to call for a further crackdown on gun ownership.

John Howard says he is still concerned about the level of gun use in Australia, despite the introduction of tough national gun laws in 1996.

While having no specific plans for changes himself, Mr Howard has urged state and territory governments to take a tougher stance.

"I think there's always more that can be done at a state level, yes," he said.

"We did a lot more in 2002 and 2003 with handguns, but we really must resolve as a nation never to go down the American path.

"There are many things about America that I admire, but I do not admire their gun culture."

Say again?!? What gun culture? IMO, Howard has been watching too many movies. He must surely think that every Texan with a pickup truck keeps a rifle in it. Nonsense, but that aside, it needs to be pointed out that, not only are background checks usually done when buying a firearm in the US, but that the right to self-defense has helped keep down the crime rates there. By preventing your average citizen from owning a gun, all it does is to enable the criminals to get them from illegal gun runners.

Here's a suggestion for Howard: why not introduce something similar to the National Rifle Association, which can help to know who wants to practice and to keep tabs and profiles on the customers? In fact, genuine civil rights groups in Europe should be stepping up and arguing the right to self-defense for the ordinary citizen too, if you ask me. And to establish their own versions of the NRA in European countries too. It's time for the citizens of many countries outside the US to start standing up and making it clear that they want to have the genuine right to defend themselves against Islamofascism, and now is as good a time as any to start.