The Port Arthur massacre

is trending on Twitter and I see some of the usual conspiracy nuts have come out saying that Martin Bryant is innocent. They are also saying that it was all done in order to introduce gun control laws into this country.

I do not know where those conspiracy nuts come from but I would first like you to imagine this. It is a busy Saturday morning in central London. Yours truly and another student are about to walk into the local post office. The other student actually has her hand on the door when it is thrust open from the other side. Two men rush out....both of them are brandishing guns. One of those guns points right at me. I can still see the dark hole as he knocks me down.

Yes, the local post office had been held up. B... and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was also terrifying at the time even though we were probably never in any real danger. Had we been a few minutes earlier and inside when the men arrived it may have been a very different story. It would certainly have been a far more dangerous situation.  As it was we spent weeks not sleeping well and being startled by any loud noises. My coordination, never very good, was even worse for a time. We gradually recovered but I have never forgotten.

Years later and I am back here in a meeting. Reports of a shooting are coming in on the news feed of one of the journalists present. He excuses himself. A little later he comes back. He is looking rather pale.

Someone asks him if he is okay and he shakes his head. "There's been a big shooting in Tassie....my cousin....he's okay but...." This is a hardened journalist speaking. 

Thirty-five people were killed by Martin Bryant and twenty-three more were injured. He shot as many people as he could and quickly as he could. There are people alive today who bear the inner and outer scars of what he did. They will never fully recover. 

Our Prime Minister at the time acted swiftly. He risked his life to speak at a rally where he announced the legislation which banned the use of the sort of weapons Martin Bryant used. There were people who were strongly opposed to those measures. They threatened him. He faced other threats, the likely loss of the next election and much more. The Prime Minister stayed firm. The legislation passed. Ever since there have been people agitating for the return of those weapons.

Why? We have had two mass shootings since that appalling event in 1996. Horrifying though they are it also has to be said they were related to families, not strangers. Of course we could have another but the gun laws will make it difficult for someone to get the sort of weapon which makes it more likely. We don't need guns. 

Last night our SBS news service reported another mass shooting in America - the 134th this year.  I am thankful I do not live there.