1. America has over a hundred times more guns than Australia did in 1996. When Australia got rid of a million guns, they wiped out a third of the guns in the country. A million guns isn't even 1% of the guns in America. It's a significantly bigger, harder task to apply Australia's strategy to America.
2. As a country, America was founded on guns. Unlike Australia, who were given their independence, America fought for their independence. Americans are going to be less willing to give up their guns.
3. Tying into the second point, gun ownership was not a right in Australia. In America, it is. People don't like giving up their rights. In general, it's a bad idea.
4. America is slightly more rural than Australia: slightly more Australians live in a big city than Americans. This means a lot of Americans can't rely on the police to protect them.
5. Speaking of the police, a lot of Americans don't trust them, and yet you'd have to ask Americans to trust the police in order to give up their guns to the police.
6. And you'd have to militarize the police in order to take away their guns. When Australia "bought back and destroyed over 1 million guns" that only got rid of a third (or a fourth according to some sources) of the guns in Australia. Rest had to be confiscated (and there still are illegal guns in Australia). Good luck militarizing the police and having them show up to houses in order to search for guns, especially in today's current environment.
7. Australia also doesn't share an easily crossable border with Mexico, a country where guns are legal and which has a lot of guns (the vast majority of them are illegal).
8. The NRA is just too well funded (by gun manufacturers, which is big business) for any significant gun law to pass.
Ultimately, it's easy to say "well Australia did it so can the US" but if you actually think about it, no, it really wouldn't work in America.
