Sydney , Australia ( CNN ) -- Could the leader of a democracy reverse his nation 's slide toward the ever more permissive use of firearms and mandate stringent new gun control laws in less than a fortnight ? Well , yes . One of America 's loyal allies did just that -- and with massive voter support . In a popular tourist spot at Port Arthur , Tasmania , in April 1996 , a lone gunman killed 20 innocents with his first 29 bullets , all in the space of 90 seconds . This `` pathetic social misfit , '' to quote the judge in the case , was empowered to achieve his final toll of 35 people dead and 18 seriously wounded by firing semi-automatic rifles originally advertised by the gun trade as `` assault weapons . '' Now we discover that a similar military-style rifle enabled the Connecticut killer to add his name to the global list of gun horrors . In his initial press briefing on the Connecticut mass shooting , White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said `` today is not the day '' to talk about gun control . In 1996 , Australians reacted with the opposite mass-majority voice , insisting : `` Now IS the time . '' Polls : Your thoughts on gun control . Australia 's newly-elected prime minister at the time was John Howard . The country 's most conservative leader in decades , openly proud of his pal status with George W. Bush , Prime Minister Howard led the then U.S. president to refer to his nation as America 's `` sheriff '' in South East Asia . Just like President Obama , Howard was seen to weep and to offer the nation 's prayers in the wake of another gun massacre . But only 12 days after the shootings , in Howard 's first major act of leadership and by far the most popular in his first year as prime minister , his government announced nationwide gun law reform . Read more : Obama on assault weapons ban . Attitudes to firearms and the regulations governing them had changed almost overnight . After a decade of gun massacres which saw 100 people shot dead and 38 wounded , Australians had overwhelmingly had enough of anyone with a grudge gaining easy , mostly legal access to weapons designed expressly to kill a lot of people in a very short time . New legislation agreed to by all states and territories specifically addressed mass shootings : Rapid-fire rifles and shotguns were banned , gun owner licensing was tightened and remaining firearms were registered to uniform national standards . In two nationwide , federally funded gun buybacks , plus large-scale voluntary surrenders and state gun amnesties both before and after Port Arthur , Australia collected and destroyed more than a million firearms , perhaps one-third of the national stock . No other nation had attempted anything on this scale . It was n't without cost to John Howard . Self-interest groups among his conservative base raised hell , and at one rural meeting in a country town , he became the first Australian prime minister to be photographed wearing a bullet-proof jacket . But with statements like : `` We do not want the American disease imported into Australia ... Guns have become a blight on American society , '' Howard knew he was speaking for most Australians . Polling at the time measured public approval of his government 's new gun laws at 90 to 95 per cent . In the years after the Port Arthur massacre , the risk of dying by gunshot in Australia fell by more than 50 % -- and stayed there . In the 16 years since the announcement of legislation specifically designed to reduce gun massacres , Australia has seen no mass shootings . Gun deaths which attract smaller headlines are 80 times more common , yet the national rate of gun homicide remains 30 times lower than that of the United States . Analysis : Why gun controls are off the agenda in America . To claim cause and effect would be to stretch all this too far . Mass shootings are such rare events as to defy prediction , gun death rates were already falling , and John Howard 's gun laws no more prevent every shooting than our traffic laws eliminate the road toll . The best we can say is that the results are encouraging , and suggest a way forward . Beliefs and fears aside , death and injury by gunshot could be as amenable to public health intervention as road toll , drunken driving , tobacco-related disease and the spread of HIV/AIDS . The obstructions to gun control are nothing new to public health . An industry and its self-interest groups focused on denial , the propagation of fear , and quasi-religious objections -- we 've seen it all before . Barack Obama , at the center of a maelstrom of clashing convictions few foreigners can comprehend , deserves our sympathy . But the future is there to see . With gun violence , as with HIV/AIDS , waste-of-time notions like evil , sin , blame and retribution could in time be sluiced away to allow proven public health procedures . Given the opportunity and the effort , gun injury prevention might save lives as effectively as restricting access to explosives , and mandating child-safe lids on poison bottles . Opinion : Put reason back in America 's gun debate . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Philip Alpers .
In Australia , one massacre turned the tide in favor of gun control . Comment: Alpers : Risk of dying by gunshot in Australia fell by more than 50 % -- and stayed there .