US Vice President Kamala Harris has praised gun control laws in Australia where citizens do not have a legal right to ownership.
At a luncheon held for Australian rime Minister Anthony Albanese in Washington DC on Thursday, Harris condemned the actions of a gunman who stormed a bowling alley in Maine, killing 18 people and injuring 13 more.
“Gun violence has terrorised and traumatised so many… It does not have to be this way, as our friends in Australia have demonstrated,” Harris said turning and gesturing to Albanese.
She again advocated for stricter gun control and called on US Congress to pass stronger laws, including making background checks universal, passing a red flag law and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“It is a false choice to suggest we must choose between either upholding the Second Amendment or passing reasonable gun safety laws to save lives,” Harris said.
In 1996 the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, which left 35 people dead and injured a further 18, prompted mandatory ‘gun buybacks’ from the federal government – a program which allows civilian to sell their privately owned firearms to authorities without risk of prosecution.
The program paired with changes to gun laws have resulted in the rate of mass shootings plummeting in Australia.
The decision to implement decisive change after the 1996 mass shooting is upheld as an example of what the US should do.
The US state of Maine has relaxed gun laws where the most recent shooting took place. Residents are able to obtain a firearm without a waiting period of undergoing a background check, and there are no ‘red flag’ laws in place for authorities to look out for.
In recent years, anti-gun violence groups in Maine have repeatedly failed in pushing for stronger laws, even with Democratic control of the Legislature and governor’s office.
On Thursday, they vowed to try again.
The Maine Gun Safety Coalition wants the state to ban assault weapons to prevent more mass shootings, said Cam Shannon, the group’s chair.
Elected officials must “stop bowing to the gun lobby and look squarely at the face of what has happened in Maine’s second largest city,” Shannon said.
with Reuters
