Has-beens for gun control day in Oz

Two former Prime Ministers of Australia decided today to remind us that one still feels relevant and the other was some years ago. Both were on the issue of gun control, and both felt that for some reason, their opinions were important enough to seek the limelight over.

 Kevin Rudd, who only managed to complete part of a term after winning government before his party rolled him, felt it necessary to recite the MSNBC line over the NRA advertisement on protection of schools. Drawing on Chris Mathews, Piers Morgan, or the President, he repeated the old straw man line on the President’s family being off limits:  

Mr Rudd, the former prime minister and now a Labor backbencher, slammed the video and said no political leader anywhere in the world should have to put up with it. "The US National Rifle Association TV ad on President Obama's kids is one of the most offensive ads of all time,'' he posted on Twitter. 

"For the record, I fully support the Australian system of registered gun owners & gun clubs. But US NRA is out of control. KRudd.''

It is dishonest of Rudd and those whose comments he is reciting to claim that the ad was aimed at the President’s daughters. It is clearly aimed at the hypocrisy of the President himself, who insists that armed personal in schools is not the answer and keeping them gun free while his children are guarded. Certainly his kids need protection, but so do other people’s.

 Howard on the other hand is seeking some love from the American left now he has been largely forgotten here:

Writing in the New York Times, Mr Howard said he did not want to "lecture" Americans on how they should respond to Mr Obama's plan, (but he goes on to do it anyway) but pointed to his experience in introducing tough gun laws following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. 

Mr Howard said it was not an easy task, but he used the authority of the prime minister's office to curb the possession of such weapons. "The fundamental problem was the ready availability of high-powered weapons which enabled people to convert their murderous impulses into mass killing," he wrote. 

"Certainly, shortcomings in treating mental illness and the harmful influence of violent video games and movies may have played a role.”

His statement about “the authority of the prime minister's office” has to be the silliest attempt at self-aggrandizement to a foreign nation ever attempted by an Australian Prime Minister. The PM’s office has no authority on its own other than what the sycophants in his party are prepared to allow him. Howard used the Port Arthur tragedy to stage a knee-jerk reaction with the support of Labor who had always wanted gun control.

 The Howard legacy is a lucrative sideline for drug pushers, a higher rate of home invasions and other crime, more feral cats, dogs, foxes and rabbits, and a matching decrease in native wildlife.