Lessons From Australia On Curbing Mass Shootings

Published October 5, 2017 at 12:20 PM CDT

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Salesperson Lauren Ungari handles a firearm at a display in a gun shop in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017. Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, who helped win over a hostile Australian pro-gun lobby to the idea of massive weapons reform says the overwhelmingly success of the change should serve as an example for American politicians in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre. (Rick Rycroft/AP)

In 1996, a mass shooting in Australia became a catalyst for the enactment of sweeping gun laws in the country, including a mandatory national buyback of guns as well as restrictions on semi-automatic weapons. The Australian deputy prime minister at the time, Tim Fischer, helped pass the gun control laws.

Fischer, a gun owner himself, tells Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson the Australian laws show a country “can have a sensible policy on guns and reduce the number of people being killed by guns and the gun massacres.”