Gun Rights - USA friends: Please don't give them an inch - Australia's insane.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

In my professional life, I got to talk to Australian academics. For curiousity and not revealing my beliefs, I asked them about gun issues. All the ones I talked to (granted a small sample), thought gun people were 'nutters'. Is that a general view. I also read that the defense against the draconian laws was not based on a RKBA perspective for the most part. It was approached as an Australian needs a 'sport'. Gun usage was a 'sport' but you could get another as having guns was too dangerous and overcame the need for 'sport'. This is an important nuance as protecting the 2nd Amend. or proclaiming one's support for it is done by nuancing for hunters, sportsman and target shooters. This correlated with the politician wandering around with a Tweety Bird killer O/U shotgun and/or shooting down the mighty skeet.

As Joe Scarborough said (ex-conservative who was blinding by the wiles of Mikka) - I don't need a 30 round clip of cop-killer bullets to go hunting with my son.

I think we have a chance to legislate protections of the RKBA for its intended use now but the current set of politicians won't even try. SCOTUS doesn't have the vote to take up a crucial case, and if it did - it probably would lose.

[Peally]

To be fair, you were talking to "academics" and as a general rule they're farther left than the average person.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I know that. It was just info for the conversation. That's why I asked if it was a general view. In the USA - gun ownership for protection is a majority position. I was wondering about Australia.

Even Joe Biden would grab a shotgun (and shoot it in the air or through the front door at the pizza guy).

[45dotACP]

When it comes to firearms, no. There is absolutely zero chance that any gun control law will pass in the next 3 years.

Having said that, I'm very worried about what the effect of Trump's presidency will have on the viability of Republicanism and the Conservative movement beyond the next 4 years. All bets are off for what America will look like 10-15 years from now...

Pretty much this.

It'll embolden the liberal hard liners and I doubt Trump will make anything happen for us 2nd amendment wise. Conservative SCOTUS or not.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[-ad-]

I know that. It was just info for the conversation. That's why I asked if it was a general view. In the USA - gun ownership for protection is a majority position. I was wondering about Australia.

Mate - the father of the family on this farm in the OP has had his firearms confiscated off him within hours, without trial just for holding it (it was unloaded, and it wasn't pointed at the intruder). What they'll charge him with is not yet known. As the farmer has commented since. "What else was I supposed to do - wait for him to have put 4-5 holes in me with his knife before doing anything".

There's basically no such thing as self protection in Australia for the average citizen, let alone with a firearm. That's the job for the police. (That's the attitude) As mentioned previously - the official recommendation of our leaders is to cower to the criminals demands, hope that they won't hurt you and your family, and then call the police when an opportunity presents itself and let them 'investigate'.

Yup, that's right too - in most cases police are too late in arriving to situations like this - they're not there to stop criminals, but simply there to investigate and try and catch the criminals at a later date. (Which the courts then give a small sentence and release again to re-offend). You should see our anti-pursuit policy that the Victorian government brought in a few years ago. Police weren't allowed to pursue if the criminals didn't pull over because someone might get hurt. They've since relaxed this a little because criminals were taking too much advantage of it. (Duh!)

Likewise our government protects pedophiles identiies because the criminals might get hurt. They don't care about parents or children living in an area where a pedophile lives - just that if the pedophiles identity is known as a pedophile, he might not be treated fairly and judged. Our countries policies more concerned about criminals protections than the innocent sickens me to say the least.

Some people state that our laws do allow for self defense under 'reasonable force' - but the above reaction by the police and government is proof that this is lip service only. If you resist criminals - you are the offender in our governments eyes because you're not doing what the government says. (Cower to their demands)

Australia is truly lost to madness in this area. I'm not making any of this up. I post this here to just show how easily it is to fall to this level if you give in as an example, and to encourage my American friends that you're doing the right thing by not giving them an inch. If you need more examples - just continue to look at Australia. There's plenty to go around!

I did have to laugh when Obama used Australia as his prime example. It was the worst thing he could have done for his cause for anyone truly willing to take a look.

[OlongJohnson]

It was always BS, but it was a far better fantasy than the reality has become.