JOHN Howard says rural Australians have long accepted his gun reforms and have not been prevented from farming and hunting effectively.
With the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur Massacre looming, the former Prime Minister also told The Land this week he is not campaigning for widespread firearm restrictions, despite declaring on TV that some gun laws were inadequate and needed of reform.
Farmers and recreational shooters howled down the laws that Mr Howard and Nationals leader Tim Fischer pushed through with the state in the wake of the 1996 mass shooting on the Tasman Peninsula.
Many regional residents claimed the changes vilified legitimate gun owners.
But Mr Howard said the decline in firearm deaths spoke for itself – adding that he rarely heard complaints from the bush these days.
“Even if you go back to a few years when I was prime minister... those who remained unhappy understood the (new) laws were not going to change. That was that,” Mr Howard said.
“I don’t find too many people now raising the issue about what was done 20 years ago.”
Mr Howard also said there was no indication his gun laws had stopped farmers getting on with the job.
“The modern farmer on the land can operate reasonably with the current prohibition,” he said.
“That’s the impression I get without any strong evidence to the contrary.”
Earlier this month Mr Howard told SBS’s Insight program some laws concerning handguns were inadequate and he would “encourage sensible strengthening”.
This week his stance on handguns remained, but he called it a stretch to say he was championing a further tightening of gun laws.
“I’m not in government, so I don’t think you can compare what was done in 1996 with any tightening that might be desirable now,” he said.
“I don’t have a strong view other than that I don’t want the prohibitions that we brought in 20 years ago watered down.”
As leader of the Nationals in 1996, Mr Fischer helped Mr Howard initiate the reforms, including the buyback of 600,000 firearms.
This week Mr Fischer was adamant guns still had a place in Australia.
“I do not hate guns. I am a legal owner of guns and I fully accept farmers and recreational shooters have legitimate requirements for guns of the right size,” Mr Fischer said.
Mr Howard was confident the 1996 laws would stand the test of time.
“Even though the circumstances are different in places like America, we can say at least we did 20 years ago what could be done to make Australia safer.”