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Rebel Wilson says America needs to follow Australia and restrict guns to prevent more mass shootings

The actress said Australia was safer since outlawing certain firearms in 1996

Chris Mandle
Thursday 30 July 2015 12:37 BST
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Rebel Wilson
Rebel Wilson

Rebel Wilson says America should ‘follow Australia’s example’ and restrict their gun laws to prevent more incidents like the Louisiana shooting.

The Australian actress and comic pointed out that her home country changed its own gun laws in the aftermath of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre and has had no mass shootings since.

Wilson said she didn’t often talk ‘political’ but she felt compelled to weigh in after the Louisiana shootings last week, in which a 59-year-old gunman attacked a movie theatre showing Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck.

Two women were killed and nine others were injured before the shooter killed himself.

Response to Wilson’s thoughts on the issue were mixed. Some people, including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Titus Burgess, praised her for speaking out on a complex issue.

While others condemned her for getting involved in something she didn’t know much about.

Following the Port Arthur massacre, Australia banned semi-automatic and automatic rifles as well as shotguns.

The National Rifle Association has called the Australian ban on firearms ‘Orwellian’, claiming “Australian people paid a massive price in liberty” in doing so.

When asked what she considered the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis to be, Wilson said it was an act of terrorism, not a massacre.

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