WHENEVER I write about gun control, I receive a stream of emails from polite firearms owners who resent being demonised.
They believe there is a shortage of balanced reporting about gun laws and it's unfair to link licensed gun ownership with shootings because most criminals use unlicensed weapons. Fair call, yes?
In   July, I wrote on the Turkish-made Adler A100 lever--action shotgun, which was later banned for importation pending a review of the National Firearms Agreement following Sydney's Lindt Cafe siege. After another mass shooting in the US (on average there's been more than one every day in the US this year), I thought I'd revisit the Adler story to see where we're at. 
You might remember the Adler A110 hit the headlines because of fears it undermined Australia's tough gun-control laws. It can fire eight shots in eight seconds before reloading, but because it's a "lever action" and not a "pump action" shotgun, current laws make it available to anyone holding the least restrictive class of gun ownership, Category A.
Before the importation ban, the $800 gun was being marketed as "revolutionary", "fast and furious" and a "game-changer", with 7000 orders in a few weeks. In the months since former prime minister Tony Abbott initiated the ban, two things have happened.
First, NSW Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm successfully used the importation ban as a bargaining chip in his Senate dealings with the Liberal Government, negotiating a 12-month expiry date on the ban in return for support on migration issues. (Nice: our sane gun laws can be undermined to win the vote of a man who believes the answer to events like the Lindt Cafe siege is greater access to weapons.) Second, the Adler A110 has arrived in Australia in modified form. The original Adler allowed seven shots, plus a cartridge that could be loaded into the breech, to give the shooter access to eight shots. The new Adler has five shots, plus one in the breech, for six possible shots before reloading - which apparently means it's fine for Category A gun owners. So a "revolutionary", "fast and furious", "game-changing" weapon is now being sold in Australia and we're all supposed to be fine with that because - in the wrong hands - it could kill only six people before reloading instead of eight.
Gun importer Robert Noia says about 1000 modified Adlers have been sold and he can't see what the fuss is about because it's one of the least desirable guns on his books, with the lowest magazine capacity and shortest range.
He says journalists are often hysterical, uninformed and publish lies that are insulting to 850,000 registered gun owners who undergo comprehensive checks and keep their guns secure.
I have no problem with sounding hysterical about guns. I can't believe there are two million licensed firearms in Australia. How the hell can they all be justified? In my view, guns should be restricted to police and carefully licensed landowners.
The fact is that legal gun sales equate to gun culture, and we do not need a gun culture in Australia.
In declaring a gun amnesty this week, SA Police revealed 670 guns were stolen in the past three years, so it's also fair to suggest some legally acquired guns end up in shootings.
It's actually not "hysterical" journalists, but police and politicians who are concerned that updated guns like the Adler might be rendering our laws obsolete.
Yes, it's a lever-action shotgun, but if it can fire rapidly like a pump-action, shouldn't it fall into the same licence category as a pump--action?
A prime example of gun technology far outpacing gun laws can be seen in the US. The Second Amendment, granting Americans the constitutional right to bear arms, was adopted in 1791 when muskets were as advanced as guns got.
In the past decade, 280,000 Americans have been killed by guns. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if gun ownership was still limited to 18th-century muzzle-loaders.
LAINIE.ANDERSON@ NEWS.COM.AU@anderson_lainie