The scene of a deadly massacre in Port Arthur, Australia 16 years ago.<br/> <br />Thirty-five people were killed and 21 were wounded when Martin Bryant opened fire on tourists and shop owners with a semi-automatic rifle in 1996.<br/> <br />It was Australia's worst mass murder.<br/> <br />Within two weeks of the killings, newly elected conservative Prime Minister John Howard persuaded all states and territories to adopt new gun laws in an effort to put a stop to similar violence.<br/> <br />Under the National Firearms Agreement, the new legislation banned all pump action shotguns and semi-automatic rifles.<br/> <br />Authorities also introduced a large-scale buy-back scheme in which up to 650,000 firearms were handed in during the following year.<br/> <br />The government paid market value for each gun, including machine guns and submachine guns.<br/> <br />According to MP Andrew Leigh, the plan worked.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English)FEDERAL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT ANDREW LEIGH, SAYING:<br/> <br />"There's been no mass shootings since the Port Arthur massacre. Up until then we'd been seeing about one a year and that's not luck, that's the policy working."<br/> <br />In the United States there have been a series of deadly mass shootings over the past few years, most recently a massacre in Connecticut that left 28 people dead.<br/> <br />Over his first four years in office, U.S. President Barack Obama expanded gun rights, signing legislation that would allow people to carry weapons on Amtrak trains and in national parks.
