Australia: Government admits Gun Control Failure.

[hmbld]

1 hour ago, HAZARD said:

Thank you HisFIRST.

Since the National Firearms Agreement, we in Australia have had seven massacres resulting in 62 victims and 17 of those were children. Only one of these events involved the perpetrator using an illegal firearm.

 

The amount of LEGALY owned firearms has dramatically INCREASED since 1996, yet firearm related homicide and other firearm related crime has dramatically  decreased, hence, this is irrefutable proof that licensed firearm owners are NOT responsible for firearm related crime, and removes any need for further restrictions as being discussed by some politicians on law abiding firearms owners.

 

It is CRIMINALS who are responsible for firearm related violence, not law abiding firearm owners.

Criminals by their very nature don't obey any laws, that is why they are criminals, so making more, or toughening any or all existing laws will make absolutely no difference.

 

Thanks Hazard.  Years ago, I learned that Australia banned guns.  Then, many times since, I have heard through news media, that it has proven gun bans are effective in severely reducing crime, with murder rates dropping. I always found it hard to believe.   Then, to my surprise, last year I learned there was not a gun ban in Australia, but people can still apply for permits and buy new guns!  Is my understanding correct?  I don't know how we can tell the truth anymore, all the news writers are either uninformed or deliberately being misleading.  

[HAZARD]

19 hours ago, hmbld said:

Thanks Hazard.  Years ago, I learned that Australia banned guns.  Then, many times since, I have heard through news media, that it has proven gun bans are effective in severely reducing crime, with murder rates dropping. I always found it hard to believe.   Then, to my surprise, last year I learned there was not a gun ban in Australia, but people can still apply for permits and buy new guns!  Is my understanding correct?  I don't know how we can tell the truth anymore, all the news writers are either uninformed or deliberately being misleading.  

Hi hmbld.

Semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns are banned in Australia, and it's illegal to carry or use a gun for personal protection. (Unless a violent home invasion occurs, then you can ask the perp's to wait a while, while you unlock your safe, your ammo box, load your gun, and then, only use it if attacked.) True, its illegal to leave you gun near your bed or handy anytime anywhere in the home. It must all ways be locked away, unless its pulled down for cleaning.

To purchase a firearm these days since the what we call, "The Steal back," one has to contact the Firearms Registry customer service department to begin the application process for a Firearms License. You will first have to receive your Permit to Acquire, which takes up to 28 days to be issued, sometimes this can take months

One must advise the customer service operator your "Genuine Reason" for why you want to own a firearm. For example, you can say that it will be for sport or target shooting.

One must let the operator know what types of guns you'll be using to determine the category of license.

Category A licenses include rimfire rifles, shot guns and air rifles. Do you believe this, air pistols and rifles are illegal unless licenced?

Category B licenses include centrefire rifles, and Category H licenses include pistols or hand guns.

One must continue giving all information required by the operate. For example, for obtaining a hand gun you must have two references. Once finished, you will be sent a license application form in the mail, a Genuine Reason Form and Firearms Safety Training (Long-arms) Course Form (P580).

If you're applying for a Category A or B license you'll also receive a form to be exempt from the training if you have qualified experience.

Then fill out and submit all of your forms. If approved, you will be admitted into a Target Shooting Club, which is required for the license. Once accepted by the club and after the police have done a thorough check of the applicants history, no criminal record,  you'll be contacted by phone or letter to set up a time to take the Firearms Licence Qualification course. Once complete you may purchase your firearm and you will have to have it registered and only then you'll receive your license.

After all that, the police will / can, call any time to do safe keeping checks, that is, make sure your firearms are locked away in an approved firearms safe with the ammunition locked away separately, that you have all the correct paperwork, registration papers for each firearm. Its like having an empty fire extinguisher in your home but locked away, and in case of fire, one can unlock the safe, take the extinguisher out, have it filled somewhere, and then use it?

One can only purchase ammunition for the category of firearm owned, and you registration papers and licence must be produced.

[HAZARD]

More proof Howards gun laws are a failure.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-15/former-police-gun-boss-accused-of-stealing-weapons/8028222?WT.ac=statenews_nt
Former NT police gun boss accused of stealing weapons

Today at 06:31:31 AM »

The former police officer who was in charge of regulating firearms in the Northern Territory has fronted the Supreme Court in Darwin, charged with stealing six guns.

Peter Ruzsicska is the former head of NT Police's Firearms Policy and Records Unit, which manages licences, permits and seizures.

The prosecution has alleged Ruzsicska stole six weapons, including rifles, shotguns and pistols, that had previously been seized by police in Nhulunbuy in 2011.

They said he picked the guns up from the airport when they were transported to Darwin in 2012, and then used a police database to transfer them into his name.

John Howard once publicly said, "I hate guns," and believe only police should have them.

Who said this?

“We will find any means we can to further restrict them because I hate guns. I don’t think people should have guns, unless they are police, or in the military or security industry. Ordinary citizens should not have weapons. We do not want the American disease imported into Australia.”
 

There were two assumptions implicit in his comment.

 First, he assumed strict gun laws lead to gun control, which in turn leads to reduced levels of violence.

 Second, he assumed the so-called “American gun culture” is bad and something to be avoided.

 Third, he assumed it was perfectly OK for the government to have all the guns and for ordinary people to have none.

 

But it is a fact that gun laws do not control guns. And even if they did it wouldn’t reduce crime.

 

And the so-called American gun culture is derived from movies and TV, with a bit of media imagination thrown in. The reality is altogether different.

 

I recognise some people are reluctant to reconsider their opinion of guns. Even liberal minded people on things like drugs, censorship and prostitution tend to have a blind spot on guns.

 

 

[HAZARD]

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined or determined to commit crimes. Such laws only make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assassins; they serve to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." (Thomas Jefferson: 1764 Letter and speech from T. Jefferson quoting with approval an essay by Cesare Beccari)

George Washington: "A free people ought to be armed." (Jan 14 1790, Boston Independent Chronicle.)

James Madison: "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose people are afraid to trust them with arms." (Federalist Paper #46)

If we lived in fairy land and there were no guns at all, not one gun in society at all, then why would police need guns?