Osmington Mass Shooting: 7 believed shot and killed in WA

The state with the strictest gun laws in Australia has seen what is believed to be a tragic mass shooting:

“Seven people, including four children and three adults, have been found dead at a home near Margaret River in Western Australia’s south west.

The bodies were found on a rural property in Osmington, a small village about 20 kilometres north-east of Margaret River. Cynda Miles and her husband Peter lived at the property.

Neighbours said their daughter Katrina and her four children aged 8 to 13 also lived on the farm. Police have not confirmed the victims’ names but have said they believe they were residents at the property. The family was well-known in the local community and neighbours and friends spoke of their shock and devastation. Friend Tracey Taylor spoke of Katrina’s commitment to understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder and home schooling. It is understood that some of her children were autistic and home schooled at the farm.

“She (Katrina) and her mum were absolutely giving and amazing supports in the community,” she said.

Police went to the rural property just after 5.15am (local time) after being alerted by a phone call from a man. The bodies of two adults were found outside the property, while five bodies were found inside a building, WA police chief commissioner Chris Dawson told reporters.

Friends say Katrina, the children and Cynda have been killed, but it is unclear who the other victim is.”

It is still yet to be officially confirmed that firearms were used as the murder weapon but is believed to be the most likely outcome, with two firearms found on the property. It’s not clear yet as to who, if anyone, had a firearms licence or if the guns were legally owned.

As for the perpetrator, it is believed that Peter Miles is the main suspect:

“Police are focusing their investigations towards farm maintenance business owner Peter Miles, the husband of Cynda Miles, father of Katrina Miles and grandfather of her four autistic children aged between eight and 13 – who were all found dead at the 30 acre sustainable farm, The Australian reported.

Investigators are establishing whether Peter killed three generations of his family before calling 000 at 5.15am and then taking his own life.”

Already a raft of apologists took to the media and interwebs with their deflectionary rubbish to write this off as “familiacide” and “doesn’t count as a mass shooting because reasons” and “not as bad as America” etc.

One of those apologists being Sam Lee:

“Samantha Lee, chair of the Gun Control Australia lobby group, said rural areas were over-represented in Australian gun deaths, including suicides. 

“Regional and rural areas are particularly vulnerable to these sorts of tragedies, because of the combination of isolation, sometimes mental or financial hardship and easy access to firearms,” Ms Less said in a statement. “Although the details of this tragedy are yet to come to light, Australia has a tragic history of higher rate of gun deaths in rural areas,” she added.”

What absolute drivel. When have Gun Control Australia cared about rural suicide? They’ve actively made life harder for farmers and rural communities by lobbying for onerous restrictions on firearms, and most recently up in Queensland by advocating to take pistols away from farmers.

Jog on Sam, you’ve got nothing as usual.

This is an unbelievable tragedy but it is not without precedent in recent years, being very similar to the Hunt massacre in 2014, which the Australian media have conveniently forgotten about because the narrative is more important.

It is also similar to the Cairns massacre in 2014 when a kitchen knife was used to end the lives of eight children – but mental health and ice were blamed because there was no firearm to blame.

With the Australian media already in full defence mode, doing their best to spin away our “gold standard” gun laws, the truth is blindingly clear – this wasn’t stopped by gun laws or any kind of restrictions. There was a 46% decrease in firearm deaths well before the National Firearm Agreement:

As for claims this is the “worst mass shooting in 22 years”, there’s been several since Port Arthur including Monash University but the goal posts are ever changing on what that definition is exactly, and there is no doubt the University of Sydney will change the definition again because mental gymnastics is what Simon Chapman and Philip Alpers do best.

New Zealand still hasn’t had a mass shooting since Raumiru and their firearm laws are far more liberal.

While I’m sure the same voices will be calling for more restrictions, what is their actual argument going to be? The answer: there is none. Murder is murder is murder – doesn’t matter what the tool used to perpetrate it is.

We will continue to follow this story as it develops.

We’ll also wait and see what the usual conga line of anti-gun spruikers have to say. I doubt it will be much.