I agree that your points have merit, but I believe the benefits are likely to outweigh the costs.

My comment was intended to focus more on the leap of statistics from "95% of people who responded to an open request for comment were opposed" to "nobody wants this", or even "the majority don't want this".

Public requests for comment can be disproportionately influenced by a mobilized minority, especially when participation is self-selected. Collecting 15,000 "NO" responses from a population of tens of millions doesn't necessarily reflect broader public opinion. In contrast, a random selection survey like the recent YouGov poll[1] which shows that 77% of Australians support the ban is more representative of the general population.

[1] https://au.yougov.com/politics/articles/51000-support-for-un...