PATRICK BOEHLER

TO GO WITH US-shooting-guns-Australia,FOCUS by Martin Parry
(FILES) This file photo taken on July 28, 1997 shows a policeman responsible for the collection of guns, Mick Reolandts, holding a military type shotgun, one of 4,500 guns on display before being melted down in Sydney after Australia banned all automatic and semi-automatic rifles in the aftermath of the Port Arthur shooting in 1996. When Martin Bryant massacred 35 people with semi-automatic weapons at Port Arthur in 1996, then-Australian prime minister John Howard reacted swiftly by pushing for tough new national gun laws. Within a year gun licences had been tightened, a weapons buy-back was enacted and an amnesty launched for anyone holding illegal arms, moves that took more than 600,000 guns out of action. AFP PHOTO / FILES / WILLIAM WEST (Photo credit should read WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)

December 4, 2015 at 9:01 pm

How a conservative-led Australia ended mass killings

Australia has seen no mass killings — defined as a gunman killing five or more people besides himself — since the nation significantly tightened its...