Katie was a young woman full of hope and substance, she had spoken of her excitement of her trip to Tasmania weeks before her trip. She had an outgoing and friendly personality - everyone liked her. Back then, I was a fly in/fly out mining worker getting ready to embark on my first backpacking trip to Europe, my life was full of hope and aspiration as well.
Nowhere written in the Australian constitution is the right to bear arms, if you run an incompetent government, the Governor General has the power to sack the Prime Minister, as Gough Whitlam found out, there is no need to overthrow the government in violent uprising - that's what the polling booth is for.
Likewise, John Howard was also reminded of the democratic process when his government was relieved of its duties following the 2007 federal election. Both times an uprising occurred, in Howard's case, as Prime Minister for nearly 12 years (the second longest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history) the people felt his highly competent government had been in power long enough and it was time for a change.
The people of Australia transitioned power in a democratic manner, there is no requirement to bear arms and overthrow the government. There is a role for guns in Australia from the military, police forces and even farmers who need guns for various roles - the average Australian however doesn't require a gun.
I'm on the fence on this one. I used to be in (total) agreement, but I'm moving a little away from that position. To play Devil's advocate …
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, criminals seem to have no problem obtaining guns, so that would be one-nil to the bad guys.
With gun ownership in the US being about one-per-person, there's (close to) zero chance it could be invaded, however Australia might now be a fairly easy target for a determined invader. Sure, that's not a problem in the foreseeable future, but who knows what may happen one day? What about if the "invasion" comes from within?
As the cliche goes "guns don't kill people; people kill people", and to be honest, if someone really wants to kill/injure a great many people, driving a heavy van through a large crowd is a far more efficient means of achieving some sort of warped result than picking up a handgun.
Happy to keep an open mind on this one, and I'm fully in agreement that certain types of guns should not be permitted to the average citizen, e.g. automatic-style and larger, more powerful varieties.
Cheers,
Andrew.
When we look back at what was achieved, we had a series of mass shootings including Queen Street, Hoddle Street and Port Arthur and none since the gun ban was enforced. We will never know what other mass shootings that may have transpired - that's great.
DeleteWill a ban on guns result in criminals being armed? Absolutely not, but we don't have criminals going out and shooting people indiscriminately, they generally use a handgun to rob a bank, more likely not shooting people as their primary objective is to steal money and not add a murder charge to the list. Unfortunately, the widespread use of drugs makes such individuals less likely to think rationally.
Home invasion from drug fucked arseholes is an issue for just about everyone unfortunately. Whilst we do lack the defence of a weapon on this occasion, we also have the advantage of the druggie home invader less likely to be armed also. Even when individuals have shot home invaders, the police usually go out and charge the homeowner defending themselves - go figure.
I don't subscribe to the point of view that we require guns to defend the country when we have the three forces of the military armed with F/A 18 fighter jets, submarines, destroyers and frigates with a reasonably resourced standing army. If invaders get past that weaponry then a handful of residents armed with small calibre firearms won't present too much of deterrence anyway.
I agree that individuals armed with trucks and motor vehicles driving through crowds presents a risk to the public, errecting bollards as a deterent is probably the answer in the short term.
I think playing devils advocate also, criminals who wanted guns previously wouldn't have obtained them legally and had their gun license?
ReplyDeleteI hope that it would make them less easy to obtain as there are just less in circulation overall. Unfortunately they will always be available to the scum that want them.