Time for a change

ANOTHER month, another tragic mass shooting in the USA.

It is very sad that these events that are so extreme have also become very commonplace.

It also serves to remind us how lucky we are — in Geelong, Victoria, Australia — that our leaders (and particularly then PM John Howard’s intervention after the Port Arthur massacre) have got the settings right on our gun laws.

This makes it hard to look through Australian eyes at these recurring horrors in our fellow democracy of America and to understand why they don’t change things — why they don’t tighten up their extremely liberal gun laws.

Sure there are other factors at play here particularly with school shootings.

We need to look at the twisted psychology of the men behind these massacres that drive them to kill.

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peters is very enlightening on this point particularly in relation to the Columbine killers.

He says they rage against being — against the seeming unfairness and meaninglessness of life — and they need to be shown the way to a life of responsibility and meaning.

Such approaches seem key to curbing future violence.

But they need to be coupled with gun reform.

Moods can pass, even homicidal impulses, and circumstances can change. The easy availability of weaponry just makes killing more likely.

In some ways the fact we had a conservative PM at the helm helped Australia grasp the nettle and undergo a gun ‘buy back’ and ban semi-automatics against resistance from some shooters.

Donald Trump is an unconventional Republican president.

In a strange way, he might be perfectly-suited as the president who could finally say `enough is enough’.

It would be really something if Trump could find his inner-Australian, stare down the gun lobby, make sensible reforms, if necessary start the process to change the constitution, and in doing so save lives.