Australia: land of kangroos, people that need to lighten up

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By "semi-automatic weapons" are you referring to all guns (including concealed-carry types) or just the really large ones? Also: Yeah, having cops around is nice, but the bad thing about them can be summed up in a little-known saying: "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.". In other words, while they may be around, they may not get there quickly enough to stop a crime even if you do try to "hold up" the perpetrator (robberies and even some murders are good examples of this). Some will say you can use a knife or martial arts in place of a gun, but with the former you would have to get in close range and know where you're looking to aim. With the latter (martial arts)? You'd better have years of experience working for you if you're looking to kill someone, honey. Not only that, but it can (and usually does) take a few slams and punches to actually kill. Guns, on the other hand, allow you to quickly "get rid of" the person in question from a distance and with little prior training.

Subjects of the Queen should not have weapons.

Americans are to own their country, and have a right and the means to take it back from government for government types.

I live in the highest murder state, and in the highest murder city, 400 a year, and we do not miss them. Most were well on their way to being supported for life in the prison system. Besides that, the organ harvesting is very profitable.

Mostly it is outdone by the automobile, the leading killer of people under thirty-five. That runs about 40,000 a year nationwide.

Tired people, those talking on phones, texting, kill a lot more than drunks.

We try to keep things from blowing up, but letting BP in the country, they have blown up a pipeline in Alaska, a refinery in Texas, and an oil rig just south of me, killing people. They did not have guns, or common sense relating to dealing with dangerous things.

Taking the hazards out of life leads to people thinking everything is safe.

In New Orleans we know where not to be at what time of day.

If all the guns vanished, the killing would go on with baseball bats, tire irons, knives. It would still get rid of those that kill, guns just make it more effective.

If the Police killed a hundred of the worst of the worst, the trials would never stop, it would make international news, so I think we have a workable system of dealing with it.

When Katrina hit and the last were bussed out, the murder rate went up in Houston and Atlanta. It is not guns, it is a culture of killing people.

If you want to get all soft in the head, we could bus them to Australia. Disarmed, no guns available, they will be killing people in a week.

America is armed because the British keep invading and blowing things up.

Local, we have huge wild hogs, gators to a thousand pounds, and our own population to deal with. Taking down a charging SUV driven by a woman looking in the back seat while talking on the phone takes some serious firepower.

I do not think tourist should be allowed to take pictures.

Irrelevant and immaterial as under Australian law before someone can buy a firearm, he or she must obtain a Permit To Acquire. The first permit has a mandatory 28-day delay before it is first issued. In some states (e.g. Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales), this is waived for second and subsequent firearms of the same class. For each firearm a "Genuine Reason" must be given, relating to pest control, hunting, target shooting, or "collecting". Self-defense is not accepted by either the state or federal government as a reason for issuing a license.

Sure guns don;t kill people, people kill people. But 78% of all gun related deaths in Australia are suicide. So in this instance people kill themselves and the weapon of choice is a gun.

Russian Roulette anyone?

Suicide is a problem? It should be left up to the individual to end their life, not some busy body outsider.

People who are suicidal are supposed to be counselled so yes there is a role for a "busy body outsider".

And in my view crap like this is a sign of pretentious and trashy elitist thinking. Pull condescending assumptions out of your ass, class act buddy. Real sophisticated and civilized of you. Yeah I guess a guy who thinks cops and armed forces will always be there to save the citizens knows what every single middle class family needs for their safety better than they themselves do. That's just disgustingly arrogant. Some people have professions that put their lives at risk when they're off-duty and some people are more easily victimized than others. That's a few factors out of many, so stay in your lane.

Yes there is a lot of paranoia in this day and age, but that has jack s**t to do with some sort of a "gun culture". The media highlighting all the crazy s**t that goes on makes people think violent crime occurs more frequently than it actually does. But since you have some sort of an axe to grind with guns, you would rather point the finger than really look at the issue in an open minded way. Because if you did, you would realize not everything about crime, violence, and the perception of those things revolve around gun policies or "gun culture".

It drives me nuts when it comes to how agenda-ridden the subject of crime is. Here's a little joke for everyone. What causes crime? Whatever you have an axe to grind with.

If you're a feminist that hates patriarchy, you will blame crime on that. If you're a social conservative that hates the moral decline of the past few decades, you will blame crime on that. If you're a liberal, you will blame crime on racism and inequality. Everyone wants to point their finger at one factor and act like their agenda is the holy grail to it.

Pointless disclaimer for the folks that are eager to give me a patronizing lecture on logic: I am not saying every single social conservative, liberal, or feminist believes those things. I am oversimplifying to make a point about how having an agenda makes people blame one thing to the exclusion of all else.

I think that it's important to remember that when a person takes on the privilege of being a member of the country's Olympic team, that person is expected to adhere to a different standard of conduct than other members of the public.

The Australian Olympic Committee and the Swimming Australia are free to establish whatever rules of conduct for their athletes, officials, umpires and staff that they choose. And the people who want to be members of the Australian Olympic delegation have a choice: adhere to the rules established by their sports and the AOC, or waive their privilege to participate.

I doubt suicide rate is correlated with the ability to own firearms. Take a look at Japan, for example. People just use a firearm when they've got it as it's quite humane and quick; no firearm, no problem though (Japan). Just like how the murder rate and firearm availability aren't correlated; just as many people are murdered nowadays in Oz as before the regulation of long arms (pistols have always been regulated here).

I'm an "aspie" firearm owner in Oz, and I have been ever since I turned 18 (sadly, it's always been regulated in my time; I'm 31 now). People have no reason to fear me or my firearms. I'm not a violent person at all (in fact, I'm pathologically passive). I'm not "primitive".

As for the police, they usually aren't there when needed, whether it's a violent home invasion or a rampaging pack of wild dogs. They're there to clean up the mess in most cases and punish those responsible. I did Criminal Justice for a while (teachers were police officers), in the hopes of being a police officer (AS precludes that here, sadly), so I know a bit about how policing and justice works.

I'm also a bow owner (projectile weapons are my interest, no matter the type).

While that is true, I expect that it is being exemplified for other reasons also.

In Australia, swimming is a very high profile Olympic sport, one of which the culture is very proud of and almost always do well in. Swimming athletes are often held up to a different standard in terms of public scrutiny because of the high media profile the sport has here and because of the cultural emphasis placed on it.

All well and good if you love gun culture (also known as thug culture) living in the USA and have the second amendment to fall back on. This amendment was created to bestow upon the early American settlers the right to be armed due to paranoia over the return of the British imperial forces, the French, Mexicans and native american tribes all of whom were a physical threat to families living in "frontier land". Those days are gone now but the paranoia and gun love is still hanging around.

I suspect you missed my earlier post re: Australia. Under Australian law before someone can buy a firearm, he or she must obtain a Permit To Acquire. The first permit has a mandatory 28-day delay before it is first issued. In some states (e.g. Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales), this is waived for second and subsequent firearms of the same class. For each firearm a "Genuine Reason" must be given, relating to pest control, hunting, target shooting, or "collecting". Self-defense is not accepted by either the state or federal government as a reason for issuing a license.

I think all the Australian Olympic team are under the same level of scrutiny by the AOC for misconduct.

2 things.

1. People who are suicidal will look to the most easily accessible way of killing themselves. Unlike prescription medicine, kitchen knives and staircases; guns stored at home are the most symbolic instrument of death that is within easy access in the house. For those who choose this path there is a ritualistic and poetic aspect whereby cinema and literature often (and unfortunately) hail the hero who commits suicide by shooting themselves as the ultimate victim playing out their final scene. This then explains why in Australia 78% of all suicides are from firearms.

2. When somebody shoots themselves in the head the exit wound expels considerable amount of skull fragments, tissue and brain all over the walls and furniture. You need specialist cleaners to remove all traces of human brain from the shooting scene. It sometimes takes a month to clean the splatter. Whatever your description of shooting being quick and humane it certainly leaves a lasting legacy.

If you took away all of the firearms, just as many people would kill themselves. That's how it works. So, there's no difference, other than the object used. Speaking of popular culture stuff doesn't add anything to the argument.

Depends on the firearm. Lots of people don't use shotguns or similarly powerful rifles for that very reason, i.e., no head left from a contact wound. I recall reading this in a forensics textbook. Small caliber rifles don't leave much of a mess, other than blood. I guess a person who kills themselves probably doesn't care all that much about these things though, but then, I also recall reading that females often don't shoot themselves in the head for the reason of ruining their appearance (same textbook). Blood and other bodily remains doesn't account to anything; dead is dead.

People should focus on the issue for why people kill themselves rather than how they do it; one can be helped to some extent (therapy), whereas the other is just a means to get to the end.

It's not quite that simple.

First of all there is no scientific evidence that having a gun makes you safer. Does it ever occur to you why you never hear never hear about the heroic dad who saves his family from armed intruders with a gun? The reason is because it's a myth.

Here in Australia you have to keep weapons securely stored in a metal cabinet and locked. I'm pretty sure even Claude Van Damme or Arnold Schwarzenegger would have difficulty trying to fight off armed intruders while scrambling to find where he put his keys then unlock the weapons room and then the gun cabinet. Then they have to collect the bullets from a seperate storage area and start loading. By the time you actually lift the gun to take aim your family are likely dead or tied up and you'll be too.

Infact the opposite is true, according to scientific research having a gun at home makes your household "less safe"
http://www.news-medical.net/news/201002 ... lence.aspx

Conclusion: The gun lobby are full of crap.

We are getting far afield here, in some places stepping in front of a train works. Jumping from high places, leaves a splatter pattern.

The issue was being photographed with guns.

You can say that Olympics call for high standards, setting the best example of good will, so If they had been photographed at a Gay Pride March it would have been cool. How about Vegas, "You are Now Entering the City Limits, Please Commence Sinning." Are pictures from the kegger and pig roast going to cause a worlwide Islamic backlash?

Now how about local industry? We make money off of tourists, and Asians love Dirty Harry Tours, where we take them out in the desert, with a cowboy hat, a .44 Mag, Harry's Baby, and video them blasting away. For dessert, the full automatics, for some spray and pray shooting.

In Japan only people named Yakusa can own weapons, so coming to America means Freedom, Freedom to shoot beer cans off of fence posts while riding in the back of a pickup, and having helped empty those beer cans. The Thompson is favored, 45 ACP, 30 round clips.

What America means to me, riding across West Texas, with a cold one between my legs, shooting beer cans in the ditch with a nine shot .22 revolver. Hey, it is hours between towns, at least ones big enough to sell beer, and we are they only people out there to show mercy where the deer crossings meet the truck routes. The deer seem to prefer us to the cayotes, we kill you before we eat you.

Out on the ranch it is a regular job to feed the Deer and Elk, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We know where they bed down, and keeping our distance make a bit of noise pouring out some corn and horse food. Then we make a bit more noise leaving. After a month, you can depend on the largest male taking that free meal, and one morning there is a Dentist from Chicago who has paid $5,000 to sit with his fancy scoped rifle, and drop some elk at 200 yards. I was also the photographer. By afternoon he is on a plane back to Chicago, and all he wants is the head mounted.

The Elk are trucked in from Yellowstone where they have a surplus and auction them off. They are used to tourists taking their picture. Six months of feed and they are some good eating.

As the Local Guide, I went out the day before and told the bears and local game there was going to be some shooting, and we needed the money. Park Elk lack smarts. For some reason we cannot get them to pay to shoot cows.

We do have a gun culture, and a lot of land with one person and five cows per square mile. It takes a hundred square miles to support one small store that sells cold beer. And yes, we are going to pop one or more for the ride back.

Going to get gas was 52 miles round trip, about twice that to the nearest grocery.

So now comes people I have never met who say I cannot ride the bike with a white straw hat like I do the horse, I must wear a Schnel DOT 218 approved helmet. No helmet to drive the pickup, but sipping a beer and shooting beer cans in the ditch with a pistol they are going to call Homeland Security, SWAT Teams, Black Hilocopters, call in an air strike, and if I finish off a deer that was hit by a truck, I should go to Federal Prison. Whats the Problem, I killed it before I ate it?

If you see anyone out there you wave, if they are broke down you stop, always carry water, because people can die in a day. I have been out at night in snow storms to rescue people that slid in a ditch, 25 miles from anywhere. We are on our own, have only each other, and I did pass around a pint of Jack.

They might have been bit by an snake, who knows?

This culture exists away from the coasts and twenty-five miles from the cities. We have so many open containers in the vehicle we have to go to the recycling place.

Even if I do not like you, if I find you crashed into a power pole, pushed through a fence by a cow, I am the one who will patch you up, pour wiskey on your wounds, toss you in the truck and drive you the hundred miles to the hospital, stopping along the way for more beer.

When people are few, they are free, and do depend on each other. In cities they remove everyone else's freedoms, for Safety, hate each other, and would step over a bleeding person in the streets.

You can do what you want, just dont call your self human.

City rats do not live on the planet, have blotted out the sky, never see the stars, live with the other animals, they really should be underground where it is safe. They hate Earth and Life. They are so self important that they want to regulate people everywhere, and bomb those who question their right.

The smell of the earth, the plants that chose to live there, the animals that eat them, clean air, water, a quite that a bird singing carries for miles, the blackest nights with billions of stars, other people, and yourselves, you hate it.

Your existence has no meaning, so you project your fears onto others. They Shall Not! Screech the Rats, for I do not dare to live.

I read an interesting news article, in the Atlantic, over the last ten years more Americans have been killed by having their TV or sofa fall on them, than by terrorists worldwide. We still have that TSA stuff at every airport. We still have over 100,000 troops in Afganistan, where one a day dies, five are maimed, and even more kill themselves.

This is the price of making the world oversafe for city rats. The leading killer of age 1 to 35, is cars and cell phones. Since 9/11 they have killed near half a million. The second leading killer is medical treatment and hospitals. Next comes the optional bombing of Iraq, a million killed for rat security, which is to say for nothing.

Taking away guns, making people live naked except for the approved helmet, is not helping the real problems we face.

As Churchill said,"We have nothing to fear but fear it's self." Fear has been destroying us, fear of everything, that might happen, could happen, with dangerous plans to reduce fears by creating new fears.

We used to promote personal freedom, it is what made us great.