A mass shooting at a state-run facility for individuals with developmental disabilities in San Bernardino, California, has left 14 people dead and 21 injured.

This week, US President Barack Obama addressed the American people for the 15th time after a mass shooting.

He referred to the pattern of mass shootings that has no parallel anywhere else in the world. The president in early October characterized the response and reporting as "routine." This is the 354th mass shooting in the US in 2015. That averages to one a day.

Obama has referred to Australia's Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 in which gunman Martin Bryant opened fire and killed 35 people in Tasmania. The Howard government swiftly responded by passing new laws prohibiting all automatic and semiautomatic weapons and implementing strict licensing rules, which involved background checks and waiting periods as well as a buyback program.

America's unwavering love of guns perplexes Australians. We contrast the situation in the US with how we reformed our gun laws in response to one unhinged individual's shooting spree, and how this reduced the incidences of mass shootings from 13 between 1979 and 1996, to zero in the following 19 years. In doing so, we simultaneously attempt to shame the US into reforming its gun laws by highlighting deficiencies in its response, and try to inspire change by providing an example of a conservative national government successfully implementing tough, new gun control laws.

Neither is likely to be an effective strategy in shifting US thinking on gun laws.