Anti-gun crusaders love them some Australia-style gun control. They look at the whole process over there and think, “If only.” They want the euphemistically-termed “buybacks” that no one has any choice about, combined with a strict licensing scheme that would make the Founding Fathers curl up in the fetal position.

They want it all.

The problem is, the Australian Ambassador to the United States doesn’t think that’s the right call for the good old U.S. of A.

However, Australian ambassador to the U.S., Joe Hockey, who helped craft the National Firearms Act while serving in Parliament, says that idea is naive. Shortly after the Vegas massacre, Hockey tweeted: “I was in Govt. that changed Aussie gun laws. Guns are more pervasive & cultural here in USA. We all ‘wish’ for change but it’d be a miracle.”

The writer, Molly McClusky, got a chance to talk with Hockey about guns and the U.S.

OK, Joe. Following the Vegas massacre, you tweeted that, essentially, guns are more cultural and pervasive in the U.S. than in Australia. What do you mean by that? Australia and the United States are completely different situations, and it goes back to each of our foundings. America was born from a culture of self-defense. Australia was born from a culture of “the government will protect me.” Australia wasn’t born as a result of a brutal war. We weren’t invaded. We weren’t attacked. We weren’t occupied. That makes an incredible difference, even today. So could the United States replicate Australia’s success? It’s too arrogant for me to express an opinion about another country. Fair enough. But you seem to think it couldn’t be easily replicated. Well, like I said, our histories are completely different. The U.S. had a horrendous civil war, with more casualties than every other war combined. We didn’t have that history. It really went to the core of what it means to defend your people. And so you have a second amendment based on an antiquated view of what it means to be occupied. But the gun culture is so ingrained in America. I can’t wrap my brain around impulsive buys, no cooling off period, no mental-health checks. I’m stunned there’s not more road rage here given the number of guns.

So no, Hockey doesn’t seem to think gun control is bad. That would be asking too much.

However, he’s smart enough to recognize that trying to implement a gun control policy like those of his native country, or even England, isn’t practical, and that’s without even getting into the constitutionality of such an effort.

It’s funny how often gun control advocates will forget that. They also forget that, for many of us, guns aren’t just something we tend to like. It’s something that is an ingrained part of being an American. It’s something that is such an integral part of who we are as a nation that demanding we give it up isn’t remotely reasonable.

For all the Left’s talk about “common sense gun control,” most of us know that it would only be the beginning. Eventually, they’d keep trying to shift the Overton Window until even the Australian plan sounds like “common sense.” That’s what they want, and most of us know it.

Yet, as Ambassador Hockey notes, guns are a too much a key part of the United States for that ever to happen.

The sooner some Americans figure that out, the better off we’ll all be.