Leaders of the American gun lobby argued that if Mr Bush won the Presidency they would be able to work out of the White House itself.

Time will tell if the US becomes an even more gun-soaked society. This we do know – the US gun death rate is 14 times that of Australia.This is a statistic which should shame US gun lovers. It is a statistic which is a lesson to Australian parliamentarians. Gun Control Australia asks ‘don’t let it happen here’, ‘don’t trust the gun-greedy care-less Australian shooter movement’.

If activist shooters had their way our gun laws would be as weak as they were in the 1980′s – years when guns killed about 700 Australians each year. This figure has been halved in the late 1990′s, due mainly to stricter gun laws. What our politicians must remember is that the major Australian gun clubs fought against improvements to our gun laws – the term ‘community safety’ is something the selfish gun lobby simply does not understand.

If the Australian gun lobby has its way we will take the American path. Some recent examples of that shooting-path should be remembered.

29 July 1999. Former day trader Mark Barton, 44, kills nine people at two Atlanta brokerage offices.

5 August 1999. Truck driver Alan Miller, 35, kills three co-workers near Pelham, Alabama.

30 December 1999. Thirty six year old Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva shoots five co-workers at Tampa’s Radisson Bay Harbour hotel.

20 March 2000. Fired employee Robert Harris,28, kills five people at a car-wash in Dallas.

26 December 2000. Michael McDermott, 42, kills seven co-workers at Edgewater Technology near Boston after his salary is docked for taxes.

Note that these are just the Office Shootings: ‘Street’ and ‘School’ shootings are additional.

Mr Bush said that “We live in a dangerous society… people feel like they need to defend themselves”. Which should prompt the question, “What makes US society so dangerous” Oh no, Mr big W, don’t ask that question – it will hurt you.