Australia's Gun Problem

[TurkeysGhost]

Calling eight guns an 'armory' is rather quaint by American standards.

American gun culture is really, really weird about conspicuous consumption. It's pretty nutso for anyone but an extremely avid hobbyist shooter to amass such large collections of firearms.

 

[Andy_Ross]

American gun culture is really, really weird about conspicuous consumption. It's pretty nutso for anyone but an extremely avid hobbyist shooter to amass such large collections of firearms.

I had a Feinwerkbau .22 competition rifle, a Ruger .22semi auto for small game.
Two Lee Enfield number 4s, a standard .303 and a Parker- Hale 7.62 competition conversion. Both for vintage service rifle competitions.
For a while I had a Mauser 98K also for vintage service shooting.
A Baretta shotgun for trap and small game (rubbish at trap shooting, could never hit them).
I had Browning 9mm Hi-Power for competition shooting and a Webley .38 MK4, again for vintage service competition.

The Parker-Hale Lee Enfield was the same rifle used by the British Army as the L42A1 sniper rifle until the late 90s. Technically it wasn't a 'vintage service rifle' but as it was converted from an original.303, it was allowed by the rules.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I had a Feinwerkbau .22 competition rifle, a Ruger .22semi auto for small game.
Two Lee Enfield number 4s, a standard .303 and a Parker- Hale 7.62 competition conversion. Both for vintage service rifle competitions.
For a while I had a Mauser 98K also for vintage service shooting.
A Baretta shotgun for trap and small game (rubbish at trap shooting, could never hit them).
I had Browning 9mm Hi-Power for competition shooting and a Webley .38 MK4, again for vintage service competition.

The Parker-Hale Lee Enfield was the same rifle used by the British Army as the L42A1 sniper rifle until the late 90s. Technically it wasn't a 'vintage service rifle' but as it was converted from an original.303, it was allowed by the rules.

It's really common in the US for people to own multiple guns that they almost never shoot. Like thousands of dollars of guns and they maybe go the range once or twice a year.

The organized competition scene is much smaller than you might expect considering how common gun ownership is in the US. Huge numbers of gun owners seem to have zero hobby interest in shooting and just like buying a bunch of guns for nebulous reasons.

 

[Thermal]

American gun culture is really, really weird about conspicuous consumption. It's pretty nutso for anyone but an extremely avid hobbyist shooter to amass such large collections of firearms.

I had 6 at one time when I was younger, and I was hardly nutso or even avid. Couple 12 ga, a pump for hunting and well-used O/U, a Ruger 10-22 like half the country has for plinking, a Marlin 30-30 lever action because it was used (cheap) and thought I might hunt in PA for a while, and a pair of percussion revolvers, .38 and .44 cal, again cheap and fun. About $600 +/- for all, bought over the course of a few years. Two more and I would have been a psycho?

 

[Andy_Ross]

My pistols went after Dunblane along with everyone else's.
The shotgun, Kar and .22s because I wasn't using them and finally the Lees the same. I was just hanging on to them for sentimental reasons.

 

[arthwollipot]

I think the thesis has been adequately demonstrated.

 

[lionking]

We are not surprised that every source you cite supports your agenda.

As does virtually the whole country, and with this thread having the title it does, it’s an agenda worthy of comment.

 

[arthwollipot]

Curtin University students offered counselling after man dies after bringing gun on campus

Students and staff at Western Australia's biggest university are in shock after a student brought a gun to campus and took his own life.

WARNING: This story discusses an incident of self-harm.

The ABC understands the 27-year-old Curtin University student died on Wednesday evening in a room in the engineering faculty of the main campus, which is in the southern Perth suburb of Bentley.

He was in possession of a large handgun at the time, but WA Police would not confirm if he was a licensed gun holder.

A spokesperson for WA Police confirmed the man had died at the campus, and said he had been found "with a self-inflicted fatal injury".

They said the death was not suspicious and a coronial report was being prepared.

It comes a day after the WA government unveiled plans to become the first jurisdiction in the country to limit the number of guns someone can own under proposed firearm law reforms.

"Public safety is paramount, and that has been the key consideration when drafting the proposed legislation," Police Minister Paul Papalia said on Monday.

"If there are fewer firearms in the community, there are fewer opportunities for them to be used illegally."

Read that last bit again: if there are fewer firearms in the community, there are fewer opportunities for them to be used illegally. This is something I've been saying for years.

 

[arthwollipot]

Source: First Dog On The Moon

 

[deverett]

Curtin University students offered counselling after man dies after bringing gun on campus

Read that last bit again: if there are fewer firearms in the community, there are fewer opportunities for them to be used illegally. This is something I've been saying for years.

This is what people misunderstand, they say, well people will just get guns on the black market. What black market? I'm involved in the gun business and I would not have a clue how to get a black market gun. If I walked into a pub and loudly requested a gun, the cops would be on it like a shot. Secondly how would the black marketeers get them? There are only a few ways, steal them or bring them into the country. Stealing would net you a few single shot rifles, bringing them in to the country is very difficult and the cost would be very high. I have a lot of guns and a lot of exotic guns, for example select fire micro-uzis, tech-9s ak-47, a Russian RPG. They are locked up 1 security level below a military base. You can't just walk down the street and buy a gun. Even if you stayed with it for weeks, you are more likely to find yourself talking to a cop than a supplier. The limits that have been set fit the legitimate use cases in this country.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Quantity of guns owned isn't an indicator of misuse.
When I was a shooter I had at one time 7 of them.
I competed in club shoots in two different pistol classes, vintage military rifle (bolt action rifles), Distance shooting, .22 indoor range and clay shooting.
I had a Webley revolver, a Browning HiPower 9mm, A Lee Enfield MkIV in .303 forvintage service rifle competitions, a Sauer 505 in 6.5mm Creedmoor for distance shooting, an Anschutz .22 target rifle and Baretta over and under shotgun for clays.
I have also owned a Lee Enfield 7.62 Parker Hale conversion and a Ruger .22 Semi-auto.
Most of the gun owners I knew and know had at least several guns.

 

[Trausti]

Quantity of guns owned isn't an indicator of misuse.
When I was a shooter I had at one time 7 of them.
I competed in club shoots in two different pistol classes, vintage military rifle (bolt action rifles), Distance shooting, .22 indoor range and clay shooting.
I had a Webley revolver, a Browning HiPower 9mm, A Lee Enfield MkIV in .303 forvintage service rifle competitions, a Sauer 505 in 6.5mm Creedmoor for distance shooting, an Anschutz .22 target rifle and Baretta over and under shotgun for clays.
I have also owned a Lee Enfield 7.62 Parker Hale conversion and a Ruger .22 Semi-auto.
Most of the gun owners I knew and know had at least several guns.

How did you manage not to commit a mass shooting or kill someone with such proximity to guns?????? And all those other gun owners, did they also somehow manage not do to those things?????

 

[Thermal]

How did you manage not to commit a mass shooting or kill someone with such proximity to guns?????? And all those other gun owners, did they also somehow manage not do to those things?????

Their guns were locked up at the range, where they were surrounded by other guys with loaded guns in hand. They couldn't get drunk/desperate and grab one out from under the bed and start cracking off?

Plus there is a massive difference between a competitive adult marksman and a random disturbed teen.

 

[Trausti]

Their guns were locked up at the range, where they were surrounded by other guys with loaded guns in hand. They couldn't get drunk/desperate and grab one out from under the bed and start cracking off?

And no one could sneak out a gun? How did they manage not to shoot each other????? I mean, there's guns there!!!!!

 

[Thermal]

And no one could sneak out a gun? How did they manage not to shoot each other????? I mean, there's guns there!!!!!

Sneak out? No, I don't think that would be practically possible. They take that ◊◊◊◊ rather seriously.

I get your point- I've had guns most of my life and managed to never kill anyone. It's just that one in a million crackpot we all want to take the extra precautions against. With every pile of bodies at a school shooting, I get more convinced we should be doing more.

 

[Trausti]

Sneak out? No, I don't think that would be practically possible. They take that ◊◊◊◊ rather seriously.

I get your point- I've had guns most of my life and managed to never kill anyone. It's just that one in a million crackpot we all want to take the extra precautions against. With every pike of bodies at a school shooting, I get more convinced we should be doing more.

A crackpot with a knife can do a lot of killing, too. All knives need to be locked up by the state!

 

[Thermal]

A crackpot with a knife can do a lot of killing, too. All knives need to be locked up by the state!

We do what we can to keep knives out of the hands of the nuts. Easier to keep the weapon of choice out of their hands though.

And even the most rabid anti-gunners in the public sphere don't want to disarm the public. Just regulate it about as much as we do with cars. Licenses, registration, the simple stuff we do with potentially mass killing devices.

 

[Trausti]

We do what we can to keep knives out of the hands of the nuts. Easier to keep the weapon of choice out of their hands though.

Well . . .

And even the most rabid anti-gunners in the public sphere don't want to disarm the public. Just regulate it about as much as we do with cars. Licenses, registration, the simple stuff we do with potentially mass killing devices.

I certainly hope that is true.

 

[theprestige]

Quantity of guns owned isn't an indicator of misuse.

It makes more sense when you realize their problem isn't misuse of guns, it's ownership of guns.

That's why they'll tell you that their gun restrictions are working because gun violence is down, and then turn around and tell you the restrictions aren't working because people still own guns anyway.

 

[Andy_Ross]

How did you manage not to commit a mass shooting or kill someone with such proximity to guns?????? And all those other gun owners, did they also somehow manage not do to those things?????

Unlike the USA there are strict laws controlling who can own them and the types available, hy they can be owned and where they can be used.