Guns (in general)

[fringe_dweller]

People are using guns more than they ever did!!...
Guns should be kept were they appear in their billions and most gorily used .... in the playstation/xbox/puter and the movies hehe

[ving (David)]

update....

gravy is still coming last!!!!

[rmcpb (Rob)]

I have a question, if we restrict guns/rifles/pistols because they are "dangerous" why don't we restrict cars/trucks? They are really dangerous and kill more people in Australia yearly and are involved in more crimes than firearms. Something to think about.

Answer, its easier to hit a small group of people politically than the majority. Cars are just as dangerous as firearms in the wrong hands and they are more common.

[Jonathan]

I agree Rob. I'm far more worried about being injured or killed in a car accident than being shot with a gun. I can think of at least half a dozen people I know that have been injured in car and motorbike accidents, but I can't think of anyone I know that's been hurt with a gun.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Well, we have a farm property on the Murrumbidgee River in southern NSW. We have a big problem most years when wild pigs come down from the higher snowies to our place which is relatively low at 1,000m. The love it along our river bank and destroy huge sections of it while rooting around for food.

Have you ever come up on a huge sow or boar that has piglets and accidently surprised them? I don't have a gun - but the time I did this I certainly wish I had.

Having a good rifle would be handy on the property, but I don't see any real use for them anywhere else - apart from the military, police, armed guards and gun clubs.

Cheers
Chris

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Well I am on the other side of the fence.

I own 6 Guns, which are properly stored in an approved security safe. I have had several inspections by the police to inspect my licenses, my guns, my ammunition storage and gun storage to make sure it is compliant and everything is in order.

I have been an avid target shooter for over 30 years. Back in the late 1970's and early 1980's I was a casual professional fox shooter when the price of fox pelts was at a premium and I was a lot younger and fitter. I haven't shot at anything other than a paper target since 1985, as I have changed my philosphy and now feel somewhat remorsefull in regard to killing small defenseless animals. I will never hunt again, I will only ever shoot paper targets.

To be a successful target shooter at the top level is as much a science as astronomy. I have custom built two of my target rifles and have handloaded my own ammunition for the entire 32 years I have been shooting.

Things to consider:-

* machining tolerances to within a thousandth of an inch in the rifle, including the barrell, the action and the stock.
* a high quality optical sight aligned to within fractions of a degree
* a carefully calculated bullet loading that takes account of innumerable factors including projectile weight and shape, burning rate of the powder and capacity of the case and ambient temperature.
* wind speed and direction
* projectile drift in regard to the wind speed and theoretical bullet performance based on the loading and the target's range.
* bullet drop based on the range and elevation of the target and the shooter and the altitude of both.

There is a bit more to be good at it than just buying a rifle putting a few slugs in the magazine and pulling the trigger. Although there are plenty around that think that's the case.

It is my recreational sport of choice. Why should I be deprived of my sport of choice because of the senseless and irrational few? Should we pull the several million cars off the road in Australia and make everyone walk to work because of the few hundred ratbags on the roads that kill and seriously injure thousands of Australians every year?

The legal guns in Australia are not what cause human injuries or fatalaties, it is the illegal fireams that end up in the wrong hands that are misused. That will continue to happen irrespective of what laws exist.

CS-John B

[Ric]

I have never owned or fired a gun nor have I ever had a desire to but that's me.

I have no problem with people using them in a sporting capability, it actually looks like a very scientific sport what with wind speeds, angles and the like.

I suppose like everyone else, it's guns in the hands of nutters and crims that I have the problem with.

Cheers

[Outbackmanyep]

About the terrible incident that happened at Port Arthur would turn most people off guns, but they have to remember that the rifle he (Bryant) used was HANDED IN to victorian police for destruction and sold out the back door....so who's the nutters here??
If anything, responsible gun ownership has taught me from my childhhood through to now to respect firearms and respect others and obey the laws, otherwise i lose that privilage.
The day the government tries to turn me into a criminal through no fault of my own and turn every responsible person that owned a gun into a criminal by outlawing them will lose my vote and my respect for higher authority.

[GrahamL]

Well working in a rural industry I used to handle and use firearms regularly
Since the buyback and legislative changes I havn't touched one in years .
The hoops and fences to jump over made the whole exersise way to
much trouble for me to bother.

I always believed though the ease that ANYONE could obtain assault rifles
shotguns and as much amo as you wanted with little or no valid
reason for doing so was plain stupid and as such the buyback should of also included useless politicions as well

Gravy please

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

The hoops and fences to jump over made the whole exersise way to
much trouble for me to bother.

Thats exactly how the government wanted it!
They did the same thing with Air Conditioning licences recently, for me to service automotive air conditioning i had to go through heaps of paperwork and BS to obtain a new "FEDERAL" Air Con licence to buy and handle Refrigerant and service A/C systems for automotive purposes, those that found it too hard don't do A/C anymore.
R134a is a "greenhouse" gas, in 1994 when new vehicles came out with R134a it was the "Ozone Friendly" gas to replace R12.
Now the Govt. says its an ozone depleting substance!????
The Federal Govt. took control over it from the state govts, i still need a state licence even though its useless now...another
Would you believe that through all this, that there is nothing to stop people from using LPG in their air con systems!!!
Thats how out-of-touch they are with the industry!!

[ving (David)]

way to bump an old thread chris!

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by ving

way to bump an old thread chris!

hehe.. bring back the excitement David

[radu5er]

Originally Posted by ving

update....

gravy is still coming last!!!!

Gravy?? I thought it said Gravity...darn bifocals...

[KG8]

Here is an interesting statistic. You could almost laugh at it, if it wasn't true.


In the 20th Century:

• Governments murdered four times as many civilians as were killed in all the international and domestic wars combined.
• Governments murdered millions more people than were killed by common criminals.

How could governments kill so many people? The governments had the power - and the people, the victims, were unable to resist. The victims were unarmed.
http://www.jpfo.org/deathgc.htm

[Louwai (Bryan)]

Originally Posted by KG8

Here is an interesting statistic. You could almost laugh at it, if it wasn't true.


In the 20th Century:

• Governments murdered four times as many civilians as were killed in all the international and domestic wars combined.
• Governments murdered millions more people than were killed by common criminals.

How could governments kill so many people? The governments had the power - and the people, the victims, were unable to resist. The victims were unarmed.
http://www.jpfo.org/deathgc.htm

On average, China executes more people per year than the rest of the world combined.
And they don't waste money on keeping criminals in jail.
When I lived there, 2 guys were caught breaking into an ancient tomb. They were caught at 7am on a Thursday & by midday Friday they were no more......

[timelord (Al)]

I have been a firearm owner for 32 years and participate in shooting competitions every month at least twice, as do many thousands of people here in Oz and around the world.After all it is still an Olympic and Commonwealth sport. I also hunt on a regular basis and as soon as my 2 children reached the age of 12 they aquired their junior shooting licencses and togeather we have enjoyed many hours of sport,--yes it is a sport like any other you care to mention football cricket netball etc. It also is a very safe sport with very few injuries compared to others.
I consider myself and children to be responsible and skilled sports men and women--yes one of my kids is female-- and to be frowned upon because our sporting equipment is a firearm rather than a cricket bat, football or tennis raquet is unreasonable.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Hi,

I think JohnG put his finger right on it in general, and I suspect that those like me, who have shot a few rounds here and there under supervision and restricted conditions, can't really make an informed judgement knowing all the possible outcomes.

Heck, how many of us can say we have been shot at with intent to harm? Wouldn't THAT change your views pretty quick?

I'm in favour of police being armed, but for the general public, strict regulations on purchase and possession, pistols especially.

As for the saying, "guns don't kill, people do", it is quite true that a gun laying there by itself is pretty safe until picked up, but that is missing the point by a wide margin. It is the COMBINATION which kills, not just one or the other. We can't legislate to abolish people, but you can restrict semi-automatic weapons and pistols. Has to be full-on though, not half-hearted.

Cheers

[casstony]

I'd like to add one point to this discussion; in a similar way that we can be struck by physical illness, we are all vulnerable to suffering from a mental illness at some point in our lives. A gun offers a convenient option to take your own life or for a family member to take theirs. You may not even be aware of a family members problem until it's too late.

[KG8]

A good point Tony' Much better to use a gun than to jump in front of a train or drive your car into a concrete wall. I know a train driver and suicides have a devistating effect of them, not to mention the poor passengers and the interruption to rail services.

[casstony]

The point I was trying to make in my previous post is that the gun makes it too easy to take a life. Without access to a gun a person suffering from depression, for example, has a greater chance of surviving a suicidal period in their life rather than taking the easy option and ending it.