Fear of U.S.-style massacre resonates in Asia

April 17, 2007
Fear of U.S.-style massacre resonates in Asia

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. shooting massacre in Virginia resonated across Asia on Tuesday with Australia rejecting the negative "gun culture" in America and the anti-gun lobby in the Philippines saying it feared similar carnage.

Prime Minister John Howard said tough Australian gun laws introduced after a mass shooting in Tasmania in 1996 had prevented the U.S. gun culture emerging in his country.

In contrast the anti-gun lobby in the Philippines, nicknamed "The Wild West of Asia" because of the public's love affair with firearms, fears a U.S.-style massacre.

China, meanwhile, faces a growing problem of home-made guns, particularly amongst its rural poor.