Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker is promising tighter gun control laws in response to the deadly school shooting in Graz, during which nine students and a teacher were killed, according to ABC News and the Associated Press.
The 21-year-old killer, who took his own life, used a pistol and shotgun during the attack, which occurred at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz. The murderer legally owned both guns.
Chancellor Stocker told the Austrian Parliament in Vienna that the nation’s gun laws, considered by some sources to be among the most liberal in Europe, must be strengthened. Among his promises: “Access to weapons must be regulated even more responsibly in Austria.”
At Least 10 Dead in Austrian School Shooting, Killer Also DOA
New measures are reportedly in the works and may be adopted later this week, the AP report indicated.
Among them might be a raise in the minimum age for acquiring firearms. Currently, those over age 18 can legally purchase some rifles and shotguns which must be reloaded manually after each shot. A permit is not required for such guns.
Repeating rifles and shotguns require more hoops including a gun ownership card and firearms pass, the report said.
There was no known motive for the rampage shooting, but the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms commented that the incident provided more proof that school shootings and mass killings in general are not a phenomenon confined to the United States, as the gun prohibition lobby might have people believe.
“This tells us that the gun prohibition lobby is absolutely wrong when it argues that waiting periods and gun registration will prevent such tragedies,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb at the time. “The 21-year-old suspect reportedly used a handgun and a shotgun, and he had a firearms license, so the notion that a licensing requirement will deter such attacks is also now thoroughly debunked.”
Gottlieb also noted, “What we do know is that restrictions on gun ownership in Austria did not prevent this attack, and that calling for such restrictions on gun ownership in America as a means of stopping tragedies here amounts to a promise gun grabbers have no intention of keeping, and know they cannot guarantee.”
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