You might not have heard of the Port Arthur shooting, but it forever changed gun ownership laws in Australia.

On April 28, 1996, 28-year-old Martin Bryant entered a café at the site of a historic penal colony at Port Arthur, Tasmania. He ate his lunch, and then whipped out a semi-automatic rifle and began to shoot.

Finally apprehended the next morning, his attack claimed the lives of 35 people, as well as leaving 23 injured. That image up top comes from the Port Arthur memorial site.

In the wake of the tragedy, the country immediately sprung into action, with this from NBC:

The Australian government subsequently introduced the National Firearms Agreement — legislation that outlawed automatic and semi-automatic rifles, as well as pump-action shotguns. A nationwide gun buyback scheme also saw more than 640,000 weapons turned in to authorities.

Conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a close ally of George W. Bush, faced political and public resistance to the laws. After just three months as the country’s leader, Howard wore a bulletproof vest as he addressed a hostile 3,000-strong crowd opposed to the reforms.

Howard persisted with introducing the laws, and went on to win that election and lead the nation for more than a decade. He considers the reforms as a key part of his legacy.

And now for the money shot – take a guess how many mass shootings Australia has experienced since then?

Zero. Zilch. Nada.

But sure, mental health, or bullying, or a LACK of guns in school is the reason America finds itself where it is today.

Via Quartz, how about these graphs?

In recent years the likes of Germany and Switzerland have seen mass shootings, and they too reacted with changes to gun laws:

In Germany, automated and semi-automated firearms were banned in 2008 (with the exception of hunting and sport-shooting, which require permits), in response to the 2002 Erfurt massacre, when a 19-year-old killed 17 at school.

In Switzerland, a country with similar attitudes toward gun ownership as the US, the law was changed in 2008 to require stricter ammunition storage after a man killed 14 and injured 14 more in a regional parliament.

You know a country has lost its marbles when something like protecting the lives of schoolchildren has become a partisan issue.

The willingness of some to attack and discredit the Florida school shooting survivors is really all the proof you need that simple logic has been tossed aside, and all that remains is a battle between the left and the right.

One would think the right to bear arms would be secondary to the right to attend school without living in fear of being shot, but it appears not.

[sources:nbc&quartz]