Professor Paul Mullen

I mean, the focus has been almost entirely on guns.

And to some extent, that can work.

Australia is a very good example.

I mean, thanks to the Howard government, I wouldn't like to say thanks to many things for the Howard government, but thanks to the Howard government, the response to the Port Arthur massacre was superb in the sense of the gun buyback, but also in the sense that it changed

cultural attitudes in Australia towards the ownership of guns.

We were definitely en route to follow the Americans into that kind of gun culture, and it put a stop to that.

Mind you, unfortunately, over the intervening years, the gun lobby have chopped and chopped and chopped at the important legislation, so it's getting less and less effective, as we can tell from what happened in Bondi.

I mean, what in the world was a man...

living in urban Sydney, obtaining legal licences to hold six man-killing weapons.

I mean, what is that about?

It just shows you how far we've drifted.

Gun control was a solution in Australia, but it's not a solution in America.

Every time there's a mass shooting in America, the purchase of guns goes up.

So particularly in America, we have got to think about other ways to reduce this toll on human life.

And that is through understanding what may change the pattern of these mass killings.

First of all, it's suicide.

This is an act of suicide that sits front and centre.

These people are full of anger and resentment.

They're almost, well, I was going to say almost.

I mean, I've not come across any of them who are socialised in any real sense.