Tucker Carlson, a host on American news broadcaster Fox News, has had some harsh words for Australia regarding its gun control. Carlson said Australia has "no freedom" and described the idea of taking guns away from law-abiding citizens as "insane and childish."
Australia introduced strict gun control after a horrific mass-shooting in Tasmania in 1996. The introduction of the legislation has seen a steep decline in gun-related violence and suicides, and there has been only one mass shooting in the country since 1996.
Australia's gun control laws, when they were introduced, banned some semiautomatic and self-loading rifles as well as shotguns. It also introduced a stern, nationwide licensing system and a "buyback" scheme to incentivise handing over guns. The government destroyed more than 600,000 weapons due to the scheme.
The comments on Fox News followed a discussion over the recent Oregon Umpqa Community College (UCC) shooting, where Donald Trump labelled gun-free zones in America a "disaster," and likened people in these zones to "sitting ducks" who couldn't fight back. Although UCC has a gun-free policy, many students said it was actually common to conceal and carry guns on campus.
In the enlightening roundtable about gun violence in America, cohost Anna Kooiman said it was unlikely more guns were to blame for the spate of shootings in America. "The number of guns in American households have actually gone down, as these mass shootings have gone up," she said, without offering any evidence to support her theory.
Carlson then went back for a bigger bite out of Australia, speaking about Australia's anti-discrimination laws, he claimed people "go to jail for expressing unpopular views in Australia." Despite the fact there has never been a person jailed under race-hate legislation in Australia due to the weakness of the law.