Australia's 1996 gun buyback led to a decrease in firearm suicides and homicides

Abortionists will argue "banning abortion won't stop abortions". The same can be applied to this debate - banning firearms won't stop public shootings.

Firearm buybacks also affect the ability of someone to defend themselves. Taking away all firearms means that the bad things they are used for will go away but so will the good things they are used for.

The constitution is absolute. You have the right to defend yourself. Look at what they did to Australian citizens especially during Covid. And criminals do not follow these buy backs. It would be ridiculous to suggest this

The sheer number of firearms in the US in 2023 vs the number of firearms that were seized as a part of this buyback are different by an order of magnitude, to the tune of ~650,000 vs >300 million firearms in the US. Such a buyback, if fairly priced, would be astronomically pricey in the US without any considerations on legality or culture. The nature of firearm homicides in the US is completely different from the Aussie situation at that time. Most homicides by firearm are committed by prior criminals, those who by definition flaunt the laws in this country. The buyback would be impotent…  Read more in reducing firearms ownership in this group, as many of these firearms are not legally held by the current "owner" in the first place. This country needs to come to terms with who we are in terms of firearm ownership, similar to Switzerland. Firearms are engraved in the DNA of our nation, and we need to offer significant education to all students on their use and safety. We also need to regulate storage of firearms and ammo in keeping with the "well-regulated" part of amendment 2.

Simply because there are less guns so there are less accidents, Australia is a very different place than the US crime is more rampant and criminals won’t give the guns up

While this would indeed help, it's likely that this would be blocked in congress. A voluntary buyback would be practically feasible while still lowering the assault weapons in the market. Strict regulations like background checks, psychological testing will lower the buying further and prevent the tragedies that are shootings.

Australia is basically a totalitarian state. America is a constitutional Republic which gives citizens right to bear arms pursuant to the Second Amendment. People kill people, not guns on its own.

They always only refer to firearm related stats but don't show the suicide, homicide, and violent crime statistics using other means. In reality we don't know if it really makes a difference without knowing the total crime stats.

if there are no guns next it will be knives.

but there was an increase of death by animals.

Australia’s 1996 gun buyback did correlate with a reduction in firearm violence, but it’s important to remember that Australia’s situation was unique. The country had stricter controls on gun ownership even before the buyback, and they don’t have a constitutional provision like the Second Amendment. Also, studies show that the decline in homicides had already begun before the buyback and continued after—it’s not clear if it was solely the buyback that led to the drop.

Look at Switzerland, where gun ownership is high but gun violence remains low. They focus on responsible gun culture and mandatory training. Couldn’t we argue that better education and responsible ownership might be more effective than forced buybacks?

gun buyback is not something that should happen. hunting animals for food is a very important thing in our society.

Australias citizens access to firearms does not underpin the freedom from authoritarianism that backstops the most powerful military in the world.