The overnight shooting of a television news crew at the hand of a gunman has again brought this highly contentious issue to light - not only in the US but around the world.

And while family, friends and world colleagues of Alison Parker and Adam Ward mourn their loss and try to make sense of the madness, critics of the gun lobby continue to decry the mounting gun-related death toll.

In 2012, 33,561 people were killed in car accidents in the US. In 2010 there were 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the land of the free.

Another shocking statistic, in 2009 it was estimated that there were 310 million firearms in the US - and that figure doesn't include weapons owned by the armed forces. That's one gun for every man, woman and child in that country with a few left over.

Australia's gun law reform enacted in 1996 by then-prime minister John Howard - in response to the Port Arthur massacre - was responsible for removing more than 46,000 firearms from circulation.

The effect of the buyback was palpable. The number of homicides here fell from 354 nationally in 1996 to 260 in 2010.

Of course, gun owners will always argue that people kill people, not guns. But study after study has concluded that there is a direct connection between Howard's gun buyback scheme and a reduction not only in gun-related deaths, but firearm suicides as well.

A recent move to introduce a new Turkish-made eight-shot shotgun into Australia has outraged gun control lobbyists. The weapon, which does fall under the restrictive gun category, is powerful and can fire eight shots in less than 10 seconds.

One has to wonder why anyone would need such a weapon in this country in the 21st century.

In the wake of the Lindt Cafe siege, the federal Liberal government rightfully suspended imports of the Adler A110 shotgun.

Critics of the ban, such as Senator David Leyonhjelm, say gun restrictions already go too far.

But it's fair to assume that any relaxation of the existing gun laws will become incremental and before long, more and more previously restricted weapons could very well find their way back into society.