A couple of points to correct here . 1) I am ok with the gun laws as they stand , but not with the lax bail conditions / penalties for crimes of violence , either by commission or incitement . 2 ) I live in a democracy ( of sorts ) and am therefore free to express my views ( for now ) .,3) I have never , and would not , advocate that the insane have access to ANY kind of weapon . ,4) Whilst you have a right to your opinions , as do I , do not presume to tell me where i should live . I am a law abiding , proud Australian citizen , my "dues " have been , and continue to be " paid " , every step of the way ., so don,t even think about telling me that i should live elsewhere .
In your original post, you never mentioned you were happy with the gun laws, you never said you were unhappy either. Yes, I went a step too far in my comment about you moving to the US. I wanted to edit, but was unable too because of the time restriction. It was a bit hard to gauge your views on your post. Thanks for clarifying your agreement to the implementation of the gun reform law after Port Arthur.
I'm glad we had politicians who had the balls to make decisions at that time, not that I am a fan of Howard. But because of those laws and our education on what was capable with autos in a public place, we, since that time have not have had our kids go through what families, medical and emergency staff had to go through since that time. I remember Doctors and Nurses breaking down and falling to their knees in tears afterward at the carnage Bryant caused. No doubt it happens in the US every time someone goes on a gun rampage with military style weapons.
There are no guarantees it will not happen again, but at the least we took the steps to remove the sale to the public of military style autos. And for 20 or so years we have been massacre free. We did it without removal of the right to own guns, just ones which had no place in a society that did not need them.
Yes, you, I live in a democracy of "sorts", one which a national referendum of voting Australians across all states decided to ban self loaders and introduce stronger licencing laws.
The program didn't fail because of criminals not handing automatic weapons over. We would have been totally dense and uneducated to expect they would. Criminals, or organised crime are not responsible for mass shootings of innocent kids or adults.
Australia received the best educational lesson ever about the damage easily accessible self loaders can do from Port Arthur. It broke the world record for mass murder of civilians at the time.
Don't get me wrong, I respect your opinion. Penalties for these sorts of crimes do not matter to those who commit them, because usually, they take their own life last. Bryant failed in his attempt to do so. The death penalty is of no deterrent to someone who is insane or someone for one reason or another, snapped and is able to have easy access to a auto rifle.
You sound around the same vintage as me, I remember at 13-14 with my first money I earned working after school, walking into a gunsmith shop at Tarragindi, and walking home with an air rifle under my arm, no-one batted an eyelid. I had auto Rugers for when we went pig, roo shooting etc, but gave it all away when I lost interest in my late teens early 20's.
Our gun laws were on par with the US, in some states, particularly Queensland more lax.
What helped persuade people during the "democratic", national referendum to remove Automatic assault weapons from public sale and agree on national gun laws between states and territories, was not only our own rising gun violence, but that of the US. The US gun lobby tried to influence our public opinion, to their own detriment here. Why? Because it was clear as crystal we were headed down the same path as they.
I believe and have stated in this forum numerous times it is too late for the US to introduce any type of gun reform. We were lucky enough to be in a place of our evolution to change our future by implementing reform via democratic process. It took constitutional change to do so.To prevent another Port Arthur happening again.
There have been so many replies on here from US posters thinking that Australia have banned guns altogether. So I keep posting all the gun shops in Australia where people are able to buy guns. I have posted our gun laws, our different licence categories, and 2 pages or whatever later...Australia has no guns, they banned guns. They are not able to own guns. You can't educate the ignorant. It's impossible.
Anyway, don't get your knickers in a knot because I said move to the US. Yep, your opinion is valuable. Our nations experience on not making autos available to the public is invaluable.
But, it is too late for the US. Plain and simple. US politicians over there lack balls. Big mouths, no balls though.
