Tim Fischer pushes for travel warnings issued on US - gun massacre danger

Lieberal Tim Fischer (who was deputy PM under John Howard) has let the US have it with both political barrels. He pulls no punches.

I didn't know but apparently the US issued a travel warning about Sydney after the Paris attacks. WTF? That's outrageous! We're bloody clear on the other side of the world from Paris, isolated by geography. Our world unfriendly time zone would just about be enough in itself for anybody to not bother with us. And the US issues a travel warning about Sydney?

So Fischer has let fly, pointing to the rather more real danger of going to the US, and being bloody shot by some lunatic with access to crazy firepower assault rifles and such. Mowed down in cold blood at a christmas party FFS, whilst nobody over there is doing anything about it except offering meaningless platitudes from the invisible sky man. Good grief.

As the latest mass shooting unfolds in California, the former deputy prime minister - who led the charge for tighter gun control laws alongside prime minister John Howard - questioned the "one way" nature of the alliance when the US issued terrorism travel warnings about Australia.

"Three hundred and fifty two mass shootings in the USA so far this year but about 80 a day you don't hear about," Mr Fischer told ABC News on Thursday.

"All [are] unacceptable because the US is not stepping up on the public policy reform front. But have we not reached the stage where the Smart Traveller advice of [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] needs to be muscled up?"

Mr Fischer said a person is 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the US than in Australia and that travel advice should reflect this, as it does for Mexico.

"It's time to call out the USA," he said.

Mr Fischer said Australia's alliance with the US has been "too much one way" and suggested Australia start preventing delegates from attending conferences there, as well as a "streamlining" of the annual 'G'day LA' event.

"I'm a bit sick and tired of the US chucking handballs at us, putting into their travel advice that it's not safe to go to Sydney [after the Paris massacre]", Fischer said.

The current advice of DFAT's Smart Traveller website for the US warns the country has a "generally higher incidence of violent crime, including incidences where a firearm (gun) is involved". sydneymorningherald

He also gets stuck right into the NRA for blocking reform and being part of the problem.

BTW I wonder how long it's going to be before some FOX fuckwit has a go at Australia again about our gun laws, or an article by some NRA goon saying how bad our laws are appears? Seems like every time something like this happens in the US Australia gets spat on by the gun lobby over there.