# John Howard **John Howard** was Australia's conservative prime minister from **1996 to 2007**, leader of the Liberal Party, and the figure the American gun-control debate cannot avoid. Twelve days after the [[Port Arthur Massacre]] in April 1996 — barely two months into his first term — his government announced the [[National Firearms Agreement]], the most sweeping firearms restriction ever enacted by an English-speaking democracy, over furious opposition from his own rural coalition partners. He is therefore the vault's central counter-example: a genuine movement conservative, an [[Iraq War]] coalition partner and a close ally of the American right, who did the one thing the American right holds to be impossible and politically fatal — and then won three more elections. > [!note] Not to be confused > Distinct from [[J. Howard Pew]], the American oil executive and funder. ## See Also - [[Port Arthur Massacre]] - [[National Firearms Agreement]] - [[Australia]] - [[Australian History Hub]] - [[Iraq War]]