Politicians should be on same page when it comes to gun control

After the Port Arthur massacre, John Howard’s action for a gun buyback would not have succeeded but for the support and leadership of Tim Fischer, deputy prime minister and head of the National Party at the time (“Gun control and protest laws pass after marathon Christmas Eve debate”, smh.com.au, December 24). He worked with rural people on a valid compromise for farmers who needed to use guns. We need someone with his leadership skills now. Automatic rifles are not suitable for farm use. Gun club members do not need military rifles. Dealing with guns and violence should have support of all parliamentarians. This is no time for personal attacks. Rosemary Kinne, Strathfield

It takes only one gun and one bullet to kill someone, so why should we allow any guns at all to be held in a home? Gun clubs could have their own safe storage, and farmers locked cupboards for use only by them at their property. Automatic rifles are a no-no completely and should be banned altogether. Let’s get it right this time, once and for all. Yvonne Hazell, Neutral Bay

Two men with four guns and 15 people are dead. So how can our premier pretend that limiting future people to four guns each will somehow provide “stricter” gun control and better public safety? Sandy Thomas, Lilyfield

Socrates (maybe, or someone else) long ago offered advice our leaders could do well to apply during troubled times: “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and weak minds discuss people”. Sue Ellyard, Epping

The idea that allowing each adult to own only four weapons will solve these hate-crime problems is almost laughable. Each gun can be purchased with two or more magazines, holding 10 bullets per magazine. The alternative hypothesis being floated, that “Guns don’t kill people … people kill people”, is almost equally ridiculous. It attempts to simplify a complex social problem in terms a child would reject. Less than 1 per cent of adult males kill people. From the time they are testosterone-charged teenagers, these young men are presented with a barrage of distorted TV masculinity, sourced mainly from Hollywood. If we are to be serious about attacking this problem, we need to look at the sources – not settle on a political quick-fix. Stewart Fist, Lindfield

The prime minister should have called a meeting of all premiers and chief ministers and their relevant ministers to legislate one Australian law on gun control, hate speech and protest marches, rather than each state going their own way. Chris Minns has already legislated gun control and protest laws in NSW. These laws are too important to be left to each state and territory. Robert Pallister, Punchbowl

I understand what your correspondent (Letters, December 24) is driving at regarding gun control but history shows that human ingenuity will find a way around any restrictions. Moreover, it’s very unlikely that the gun owners who want to misuse their weapons would hand them over for such modifications – or if they did, the mods would quickly be removed. David Gordon, Cranebrook

One cunning Nation

Pauline Hanson is not an intelligent person but she is incredibly cunning (“The rise of One Nation and the politics of tragedy”, December 24). Hanson knows full well that she and her party can never be a serious political threat, but stirring up racial hate among other not-so-bright Australians keeps her in parliament on a senator’s wage, plus perks. With the Liberals in disarray, One Nation is sure to gain a few more votes at the next election. Barnaby Joyce has seized the opportunity to defect to One Nation so he, too, can feel important again. One Nation and its vitriol are a blight on Australian politics. Peter Miniutti, Ashbury

One Nation might be on the rise, but only in small pockets of Australia. Had Hanson had her way, the Syrian Muslim who tackled one of the gunmen to the ground and disarmed him would not have been here. Genevieve Milton, Dulwich Hill

The claim by James Ashby, One Nation’s chief of staff, that One Nation is a centre-right party is not borne out by the evidence. There is little about Pauline Hanson’s policies and mindset that is not extremist, and she is a prime perpetrator of hate speech. Her party’s attitudes to migrants (as in her burqa-wearing antics in parliament), Indigenous welfare and heritage, public servants, multiculturalism, climate change and so much more exemplify divisiveness, racism and loathing. Hanson’s exploitation of the Bondi tragedy might have led to her party rising in the polls but, at best, it will continue to represent a relatively small minority of the voting populace. Ron Sinclair, Windradyne

Rushed response

The Minns government has just rushed through legislation that restricts freedom of speech and rights to protest (“Minns’ move on protests meets fierce opposition”, December 24) while strengthening police powers to act without reasonable cause. While we fear our society will be split by atrocious acts of terror, it is far more likely to fracture as a result of Minns’ response. We are no longer the free society we were yesterday. Brian Barrett, Padstow

Waive the flag

Except for the sports arena, it would be good to see less draping over shoulders and waving of national flags, especially if it is the flag of another country. They are displayed more often as a provocation than a celebration and suggest a divided loyalty. In these difficult times, this overt nationalism seems designed to cause division. Enough flag-waving, please. Lesley Spicer, Coogee

Way off target

I don’t know anything about guns (Letters, December 24), but my little knowledge of mobile phone range in Australia tells me that a plan to link a device to prevent a gun from firing if it could not communicate with a mobile phone service would limit most gun use to major cities and towns, and a few locations in the bush. Too bad for those in our vast interior trying to kill feral animals. Penny Auburn, Newport

Omnipotent Richo

Thank you, Kate McClymont, for reminding us of the many police investigations that included the name of Graham Richardson (“Hams, heists and scams of Christmas eves past”, December 24), who seemed to have connections to many people subsequently found guilty of crimes. I still can’t believe it was considered appropriate for this same Graham Richardson to be given a state funeral. Sandra Burke, Cremorne

Resilience to the fore

Considering recent events, it is imperative that we celebrate this Christmas and festive season with family, friends and strangers; not to do so only plays into the hands of terrorists and bullies who seek to destroy our mainly peaceful way of life. Michael Idato summed it up beautifully in his article (“Greatest gift of all: we still have each other and love for all”, December 24). Thank you, Michael, for reminding us that life goes on. Kath Maher, Lidcombe

Charles Dickens’ line from A Christmas Carol – “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year” – is apt. In the aftermath of the Bondi shootings, reinforcing our shared values of fair go, mutual respect and equality help bring the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill. Steve Ngeow, Chatswood

Royal commission’s pros and cons

There have been calls from various sources for a royal commission into the Bondi attack but I doubt it has the support of the broader community (“Former royal commissioner backs inquiry into shooting”, December 24). Royal commissions are expensive, time-consuming and there is no guarantee of an effective outcome. In any case, effective solutions need to be in place long before a royal commission is able to complete its investigations. Knee-jerk decisions are rarely successful, so it’s better to wait until the dust settles before rushing into a royal commission. Graham Lum, North Rocks

Given that the alleged perpetrators appeared to have IS sympathies, it is a pity that the detailed coverage of their reconnaissance trip to Bondi Beach needed to be recovered from CCTV after the tragedy had occurred, and had not been observed by an appropriate authority online when it was happening. Perhaps only a federal royal commission will uncover why their activities weren’t being continually monitored. John Lewis, Thornleigh

A royal commission provides a mirror to society, the prevailing framework that supports or dislocates it. We have nothing to lose by seeing ourselves. Justice Wood and former justices and barristers are right to attempt to make a judicial inquiry a long-term analysis and a guide to improve social cohesion. Government can and should do both. Anne Eagar, Epping

Life is precious

Your editorial (“After Bondi, Christmas joy is so welcome”, December 24) rightly sums up Christmas 2025, saying (among other things), “The Christmas story is first and foremost a binding celebration about the birth of a baby that has come to celebrate and honour humanity’s shared experiences while symbolising new life, fresh starts and unity.” Over the Herald’s 194 years its editorials have offered opinion and praise, along with criticism that reflects the prevailing environment. For some reason, I have kept a number of editorials of Christmases past. The 1978 one, simply headed “Christmas”, was possibly penned by Rev Dr Sir Alan Walker (Lifeline founder). Under the closing headline “Human worth” it reads: “In today’s world there is needed the value Christian Faith gives to every human being. Old battles are being re-fought in a new context, in a computer world the individual could easily become subservient to the machine. Amid chronic unemployment it will become easy for the interests of people, just people, to lose their pre-eminence. Under newer forms of violence, where lives are so easily expendable, the truth must be heard that life, every life, is precious.” Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook

Ethics and religion

Of course most religions are ethical (Letters, December 24), except for those who ask their followers to bomb innocent bystanders, to stone to death adulterers and to terrorise and kill thousands of people by flying aeroplanes into skyscrapers. Meanwhile, atheists get by on self-monitored and self-generated ethics that owe their existence to evolution. So do chimpanzees, who, like humans, have no need for a supernatural leg-up in the development of their code of ethics. Trevor Somerville, Illawong

Many thanks to your correspondent for his focus on Saint Nicholas. Nicholas is known for, and still is, the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers (in co-operation with Saint Arnold of Metz), pawnbrokers, toy makers, unmarried people, students and, if one ever visits Galway in Ireland and gets into his church there, Saint Nicholas is also looking over and after prostitutes, and has been for well over a millennium. Ethics and religion are never far from each other and can be strange bedfellows. John Kingsmill, Fairlight

Indeed, well may your correspondent say that the “teachings of most religions are ethical”. However, it’s the willing manipulation and abuse of those intentions that makes organised religion so deplorable. Bill O’Donovan, Thirroul

Timely, too, surely, to reflect on this quote by Mother Teresa: “If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Edward Loong, Milsons Point

Take power back

Citizens unite! Enough is enough. When an e-bike delivery rider nearly knocked over my wife and another older person on a crowded footpath recently, I wondered, since the police appear to do nothing to enforce the law, whether citizens should take the matter into their own hands to stop these (admittedly likely harried) individuals from both breaking the road rules and creating a public safety hazard. If enough pedestrians stood in front of these footpath riders with hand raised, telling them they are contravening section 150 of the NSW Road Rules Act 2014, prohibiting riding on footpaths, maybe some of them would get the message. Lewis Kaplan, Birchgrove

Just not cricket

The demise of Bazball has many lessons for the rest of us (“Australia were ripe for the picking. But England failed to lay a glove on them”, December 24). First, Bazball is about self-absorption without the self-awareness to appreciate one’s limitations, accompanied by a sense of entitlement with the sense that the rules that have evolved over decades that apply to others do not apply to oneself. And then there is the intention not just to defeat the opposition but to humiliate them. But worst of all is the self-deception and pretence that all is well as you disappear down the plug hole. This is epitomised by the Barmy Army, which wallows in the pretence that all is hunky-dory as the English team descends into the mire. Chutzpah may be audacious but rarely is it wise. Gordon Koch, Ashfield

Dark comedy

The cartoon illustration of the new “Trump-class warship” (“Trump addresses Epstein files – to defend Bill Clinton”, December 24) looked more like the PT-73 in McHale’s Navy, an American sitcom from the 1960s. Trump’s performances would be amusing if he weren’t the holder of such a powerful office. If Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine (who played McHale in the sitcom) were still with us, he would have been perfect for the role of POTUS in a new comedy. Glenn Johnson, Leura

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