The massacre not only triggered a change of hearts and minds, it led to lasting impacts on legislation when then Prime Minister John Howard oversaw stricter gun control laws and uniform firearms licensing.

Many came forward during the amnesty to relinquish their firearms, some of them vintage and treasured family heirlooms, and the national response received bipartisan support in all levels of government.

And - with regular glances to the United States where, to our horror, gun crimes routinely target ordinary citizens, even children - that is pretty much where people have set their thinking on firearms since.

But recent data on firearms in the Goulburn region shows this hardline stance may be softening, with a nearly 25 per cent jump in the uptake of ownership in the district in the past five years alone.

It's not a cause for alarm, but it is a trend about which to be alert. The need for gun ownership in rural areas is self-evident in most cases and, more broadly, sporting shooting is a prevalent use.

However, more guns do make a greater cache from which criminals can steal them, a live issue about which the Hume Local Area Command rural crime officer has spoken in our local communities recently.

We're glad people such as Sporting Shooters Association Australia district president Ken Kenchington and SSAA state spokesman Mitch Newbury have spoken up about the clear and coded parameters of gun ownership.

We trust other gun owners also understand and advocate that the future of firearms is in their own hands.

Stay safe

IT'S our own lives we take into our hands when we get behind the wheel of a vehicle, and that's something for every driver to think about as we enter the long weekend of Easter, a time notorious for road fatalities.

The loss of a young life on the Hume Highway this week has been heart-wrenching for many in the community, as it always is when a person so full of promise for years ahead is taken in such tragic circumstances.

Even a time-toughened copper like the present acting Superintendent of Hume LAC, Andrew Koutsoufis, found Monday's fatality to be "sobering" and that it "hit home" the issue of road safety in our area.

Superintendent Koutsoufis tells us he will have "all available police . . . out and about during this Easter break, throughout all our roads," from the busy Hume Highway to the quiet byways of surrounding townships.

They'll be looking out for us, but we shouldn't have to be looking out for them. Respect the speed limit and prevailing conditions, expect traffic and delays, and take advantage of 'driver reviver' stops where you can.

We want to see you home again.