Lessons From Australia On Curbing Mass Shootings

11:05

October 06, 2015

Denizens of Roseburg gather at a candlelight vigil for the victims of a shooting October 1, 2015 in Roseburg, Oregon. Following a mass shooting in Australia, the government there radically overhauled its gun laws. (Michael Lloyd/Getty Images)

In 1996, a mass shooting in an Australian picnic area became a catalyst for the enactment of sweeping gun laws in the country.

These laws include a mandatory national buyback of guns, as well as restrictions on semi-automatics and a 28-day waiting period to get a license to own a gun.

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.”

In the wake of another mass shooting in the United States, we revisit our conversation with Fischer.

Here & Now: How Australian Gun Laws Have Curbed Deaths

Guest

Tim Fischer, former Australian deputy prime minister.

This segment aired on October 6, 2015.

policy