I'm pretty happy to be an Australian too, As Alan states, the majority of urban gun owners are either in security, armed guards, the police service or one of the military services. The average citizen doesn't feel the need to be armed.

In rural areas including where I live, farmers have rifles. John has one securely locked in a cabinet but I could count on one hand the number of times he has used it in the past 20 years. He has it to euthanise stock when there is no other option or occasionally to scare away foxes that are harassing calving cows. It's just as effective to yell at them so that's what we do.

To us, what happens in the US seems crazy. We do have gun deaths in Australia, but generally when they are reported the suspect and/or victim are 'known to police'(criminals - often associated with rival bikie gangs) or they are domestic violence or other incidents where again the perpetrator and the victim are known to each other. It is highly unusual to have random shootings.

When we did have the Port Arthur massacre, the government of the day acted swiftly and instituted a gun buy-back scheme. There was a real fear in the community that we were headed down the path of the US, where such shootings are almost routine. Obviously, you will always have the criminal element who have unlicenced firearms, but on the whole it was considered a success. I don't think there have been any other multiple shootings since.