Australia's gun laws and the latest US mass shooting

As the United States grapples with the fallout from its latest fatal school shooting and how that might affect the country's gun laws, Australia has now reached 22 years without a mass killing.

A security official holds an armalite rifle similar to the one used in the Port Arthur massacre, handed in for scrap in the gun amnesty Source: Getty Images

John Howard was only six weeks into his 11-year prime ministership when Tasmanian gunman Martin Bryant killed 35 people on April the 28th, 1996.

The Port Arthur massacre horrified Australians and set in motion wide-ranging gun reform in Australia.Mr Howard faced some resistance, and he threatened to hold a referendum to alter the constitution and give the federal government constitutional power over guns

.He famously appeared at a public meeting in a bulletproof vest to explain the proposed changes.The proposals included a ban on all semiautomatic rifles and all semiautomatic and pump-action shotguns.

They also introduced a system of licensing and ownership controls

.The federal government instigated a gun buyback scheme, which ran for 12 months from October the 1st that same year.More than 1 million firearms were returned and destroyed.

University of Sydney gun-control analyst Philip Alpers says the groundswell for change was huge, despite the sound of the crowd at that public meeting.The proposals included a ban on all semiautomatic rifles and all semiautomatic and pump-action shotguns.They also introduced a system of licensing and ownership controls.

The federal government instigated a gun buyback scheme, which ran for 12 months from October the 1st that same year.More than 1 million firearms were returned and destroyed.University of Sydney gun-control analyst Philip Alperssays the groundswell for change was huge, despite the sound of the crowd at that public meeting.

The students who survived the latest US mass shooting, which killed 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school, have embraced the task of trying to force gun-control changes in the United States.

One 17-year-old survivor, Adam Alhanti, was asked on CNN television why he thinks the mass shootings happen in the United States but not other countries.

He cited the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre as a template for his country to follow.But Mr Alpers, citing previous campus massacres in the United States, says he still doubts the Florida shooting will prove to be a turning point in the gun-control debate in that country.