Gun ban was a godsend for Australia 09Nov07 PRIME Minister John Howard understood perfectly, back in 1996, why Australia had to ban guns from most households. With the grief of the Port Arthur massacre still washing through the nation, the PM seized the opportunity to take firearms away from those who didn't really need them. His legislation cost Australia more than $500 million in a guns buy-back scheme and resulted in more than 650,000 weapons being taken out of the hands of owners. The 35 people who died at Port Arthur weren't the only reasons for the move. About 100 people had been killed in multiple shootings during the previous decade, and the trend for gun violence in Australia was worryingly like that of the United States, where mass murders by gunshot were -- and are -- commonplace. There is no way of knowing whether Mr Howard's gutsy move has prevented another Port Arthur, but thinning the number of unnecessary guns in our society surely has lessened the chances of such a tragedy happening again on such a terrible scale. It is no coincidence that this week's school massacre in Finland, claiming the lives of eight students -- including the shooter -- and the headmistress, happened in a country where gun possession is taken for granted. Finland has the world's third highest gun ownership, ranking behind the United States and Yemen. When he restricted gun ownership, Mr Howard also may have glimpsed the way society was developing -- the rising anger of youth, the decay of discipline in schools and the general erosion of authority. American schools have become a proving ground for what could have happened here, the difference being that guns thankfully are no longer a major part of the Australian way of life. Ways to help or kill sport CRICKET authorities should remember the basic tenet about promotion of sport. Here it is: Without complete media coverage, gate-takings will fall, without strong gate-takings sponsors will go elsewhere, without sponsors there is nothing to support sport and without support, the sport will quickly decline. Cricket Australia yesterday apologised to News Limited, publisher of The Gold Coast Bulletin, for comments made during a dispute over fee-for-coverage journalism at its matches. CA's original stance was that it owned intellectual property rights to cricket and therefore would allow access to Test games only to those who pay for the rights. This affected some coverage of the First Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Brisbane yesterday. In the background of this controversy, CA last year banned the Mexican wave and the use of bugles during the test series against England, but allowed plenty of sponsor's beer to be sold at the grounds all around Australia. Surveillance cameras were used and some troublemakers were either arrested or ejected from the grounds. Compare this with the Rugby World Cup final which involved trumpets, Mexican waves, flags, non-alcoholic beer and 80,000 people in the stadium. There were another 10,000 people outside, plus 60,000 gathered around the Eiffel tower. The gendarmes reported later that no one had been arrested. CA is in danger of becoming a cricket killjoy. Its bans on waving, flags and bugles and its media controls could drive fans away. Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2007/11/09/4667_editorial-news.html