Judge - if you have not lived in America or in South Africa and know how little life is valued and the need to protect yourself and those you love from indiscriminate crime - then please do not preach to those that do. Australia is a very different country to the USA and South Africa, same as Canada is very different to the USA. If you live in a country where criminals are usually armed - wouldn't you also want to be armed to off-set the balance - or should law abiding citizens simply be targets (well we are anyway by our Governments). Australia never had a large gun owning urbanised society - so there was a smaller demographic who were impacted (remember - Australia has one of, if not the highest rate of urbanisation of major countries) - so the rural voice is much smaller.
How about banning live Cattle exports. Animal rights groups want to impose First World animal practices upon Third or Developing World countries - so we remove a source of food from them and impact farmers and send many broke to appease some people in the city. Please. Why don't these people put their money where their mouth is and fund and operate at a loss, animal processing facilities to First World standards rather than getting the Government to ban animal exports. Why should our Government do something about animals exported to other Countries - it is not an area where we can make laws. It is OK for the Federal Government to tip off foreign Police about drug trafficers who now face the death penalty (which is against our Laws) - but an animal is a different thing. Please - hypocritical - you bet.
As for Australian Governments - they have far too much power. THere is no Conntitutional Bill of Rights for Australia - we are no longer convicts that are in the control of the State - we are supposedly Free People. Our rules and pandering to "special interest" groups is stupid in the extreme. As per most countries - we think the appearance of progress is a substitute for actual improvement. Our Politicians make more and more laws because they are not silling to enforce the current laws. So, you cannot now technically smoke in your own car with a child inside it (I do not smoke - but where does our Government get off telling us how to live our lives). Tobacco is a legal drug/substance and is in fact a Government subsidised crop in Victoria. THe Government has applied massive "Sin" taxes to tobacco to offset the costs of health care, so where is the problem - you want to smoke - you pay over $25 per packet for cigarettes - because they are bad for you - you pay more taxes. Same for Alcohol.
We now have Laws where the onus of proof is not on the Government - it is on the Individual (ever had to fight the Tax department?). This goes against the very basis of our rule of law - the Magna Carta written in the 13th Century - where the writers could see the potential abuses of the State.
We have lost individual accountability and now think that the Government will protect us from all evils/ills - if not, we will sue. This is absolute crap.
So, now we have a Carbon Tax that no-one voted for and are the only country to have (which also obligates us to pay up to $3Billion per year to developing countries), a Mining Tax (remember the Super Profits tax), etc. Governments steal from the people - same as a Mafia person holding a gun to your head. Our Treasurer was quoted last week when they announced that they will not have a surplus - "it is not that we are spending too much, we are simply not collecting (stealing) enough tax". Governments do not create anything - read Economics in One Lesson - it is a easy to understand book. Only Private Industry creates real wealth.
You cannot create wealth by taking it from someone else.
So - Gun Laws - I respect Americans and South Africans for having laws that suit their needs and society. Do we need them here - no, but would I want them if I lived there - you bet.
Lets stop thinking we are better than others, or that solutions that work here will work everywhere. We still have gun deaths, Bikies still have illegal weapons, you can still buy if you want illegal weapons - it does not stop them , it only makes them harder to get and more expensive.
I have seen first hand the proliferation of feral animals in the bush, because it is now too hard to go shooting. Farmers actually asking/paying people to come and hunt to reduce problems on their land. We now have the Government using our money to carry out mass culling of feral animals (pigs, goats, Deer, Horses, etc). Newton's second law of physics applies - for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. You change one variable and the whole eco-system moves to a new dynamic equilibrium. We talk up the benefits, but do not discuss the negatives (once again - clearly explained in Economics in One Lesson). Lets look at all of the impacts and have a rational debate - this is not good versus evil, this is a problem that needs rational debate - not a Spanish Inquisition and fanaticism - look at all sides of the equation.
A lot of the issues - like Port Arthur - stem from inadequate Mental Health support and a philosophy of not institutionalising people, when in fact, this would be the best solution in some cases. Not banning guns, or smoking, or taxing fast foods, or banning images on cereal boxes, or higher taxes on alcohol, etc, etc.
Prohibition never works. Just look at the "War on Drugs" how successful has that been at removing the ease of availability of drugs. Stupid politicians guided only be opinion polls - not what is difficult but right. If government was a business - it would have gone broke long ago. Australia - $260 Billion in debt, USA $Tillions in debt - now how is that going to be paid for again?
