What It's Like To Own Guns...

[arthwollipot]

...In A Country With Strict Gun Control.

Here's an interesting article. It covers a few things I didn't know about. For example:

Another part of the law that changed is that the police can come to your house and inspect your storage. When we renovated our house, I built a room dedicated to my firearms collection. They’re all in large safes. All the ammunition is stored separately to the rifles and the pistols. If you have more than 15 or so pistols, you’ve got to have a monitored alarm. If someone were to break into my house, or into my gun room, an alarm would go off and the police would be notified immediately.

The police are required to inspect your gun room. Since 1996, the police have inspected mine three or four times. While they can come randomly, they normally put a call through and we arrange an agreeable time to come in and inspect it. I’m happy for them to do it. I want them to see that it’s safe.

Don't take my word for it - this article published in Time shows what Australia's gun laws are like from the perspective of an actual gun enthusiast.

The conclusion is very interesting:

People who love to shoot in Australia look at the situation in America with dismay. We all want to be able to continue our sport. All these mass killings are giving it a bad name. It’s making everybody fear people like me, where they should have no fear. One big difference is that in Australia, we think owning a gun is a privilege, and in America people think of it as a right.

When then Prime Minister John Howard proposed the gun law I marched like everybody else did in opposition to it. But I now fully endorse what he did. I didn’t like handing over my rifles, but at the end of the day, it’s a small price to pay not to have the nut-jobs walking through shopping centers and massacring innocent people.

Australia is a great country. You can go hunting, you can go shooting. And as long as you hurt nobody and abide the law you can continue to do it. That to me is freedom. The idea of having people own guns with no concept of gun safety and no reason to have a gun? That is not my idea of freedom.

I encourage you to read the complete article.

There are guns in Australia. People who have a reason to have one can have one, as long as they fall within certain parameters. But the average person on the street is not going to be carrying one, and I have no expectation that anyone I randomly meet is going to be carrying one. And that's how I like it.

 

[tuco]

I take it the US gun problem is your problem or?

 

[Civet]

Thanks for sharing the article. I do appreciate getting the perspective of someone who lives under and is familiar with Australia's gun laws as an actual gun owner.
One thing that did annoy me was how the author kept making sweeping generalizations about what Australians think about guns. I'd imagine they must have a diversity of opinions just like people in any generally free society, but the author doesn't give that impression.

 

[cullennz]

Thanks for sharing the article. I do appreciate getting the perspective of someone who lives under and is familiar with Australia's gun laws as an actual gun owner.
One thing that did annoy me was how the author kept making sweeping generalizations about what Australians think about guns. I'd imagine they must have a diversity of opinions just like people in any generally free society, but the author doesn't give that impression.

The difference is that US treats it as a right.

Aussies, Kiwis, Britain's see it as a privilege

 

[Ranb]

Some of my comments on the article.

Peter has asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear that his collection could make him a target for weapons thieves

Is Peter thinking rationally here or is he paranoid? Are weapons thieves that big a problem in Australia?

Another part of the law that changed is that the police can come to your house and inspect your storage.

In the USA we are protected from this kind of action; fourth amendment. Doesn't stop some politicians from trying to pass laws that curtail our rights against warrantless searches though.

While they can come randomly, they normally put a call through and we arrange an agreeable time to come in and inspect it.

That's nice. The BATFE did the same for me when they showed up outside of business hours to inspect. I had to allow them in (during business hours 8-4 Sundays only) as part of the deal for obtaining the FFL.

But the reality is that gun-lovers like me belong to a club and are doing no harm. I go clay pigeon shooting on a Saturday. I go pistol shooting on Sunday morning. That’s my hobby.

This describes me and a ton of other Americans.

I don’t want my full name used in this article because if the biker gangs or somebody wanted a firearm, I don’t want to wake up with a knife to my throat and someone saying “Take me to your safe.

Is it really that bad there?

Even though I’ve got 15 rifles at home, I’ve got to wait 30 days to get another one. That’s just stupid.

I agree.

The idea of having people own guns with no concept of gun safety and no reason to have a gun? That is not my idea of freedom.

I'm fairly certain every American gun owner also has a reason for owning a gun. This guy is rather naive in my opinion.

Ranb

 

[arthwollipot]

Is Peter thinking rationally here or is he paranoid? Are weapons thieves that big a problem in Australia?

...

Is it really that bad there?

Certainly not where I live. The article doesn't mention where Peter lives, but there are absolutely some parts of Sydney and Melbourne where it might be a problem. Especially since Peter has just admitted to owning what in Australia counts as a massive arsenal of firearms, if there is a gang problem where he lives, he may well be a target for thieves.

 

[arthwollipot]

I'm fairly certain every American gun owner also has a reason for owning a gun. This guy is rather naive in my opinion.

There's a difference, and this is something I've been saying for a long time. Self defence is not a valid reason to own a gun in Australia. It doesn't count. Hunting, sport shooting, collecting, pest control - all these are valid reasons. Not every American gun owner can say that they own their gun for one of these reasons. In fact, there are American gun owners on these forums who have stated that they do not have one of these reasons for owning guns.

So from the perspective of Australian gun laws, owning a gun for self-defence (or as I like to put it "just in case") is equivalent to not having a reason to own one. Personally, I don't agree, but then again I'm not Peter and I don't own any guns.

 

[John Jones]

There's a difference, and this is something I've been saying for a long time. Self defence is not a valid reason to own a gun in Australia. It doesn't count. Hunting, sport shooting, collecting, pest control - all these are valid reasons. Not every American gun owner can say that they own their gun for one of these reasons. In fact, there are American gun owners on these forums who have stated that they do not have one of these reasons for owning guns.

So from the perspective of Australian gun laws, owning a gun for self-defence (or as I like to put it "just in case") is equivalent to not having a reason to own one. Personally, I don't agree, but then again I'm not Peter and I don't own any guns.

Self defense doesn't count.

 

[Cain]

There's a difference, and this is something I've been saying for a long time. Self defence is not a valid reason to own a gun in Australia.

That's ridiculous. The best reason to have a firearm is self-protection. Self-protection is paramount. Given the onerous gun laws in Australia, I would never, ever consider moving there, even if it is objectively safer.

 

[arthwollipot]

That's ridiculous. The best reason to have a firearm is self-protection. Self-protection is paramount. Given the onerous gun laws in Australia, I would never, ever consider moving there, even if it is objectively safer.

That's ridiculous. Why do you need a gun for protection? What are you protecting yourself from? Other people with guns. Of which there aren't any because only those people who have a valid reason for owning one can get them.

 

[cullennz]

That's ridiculous. Why do you need a gun for protection? What are you protecting yourself from? Other people with guns. Of which there aren't any because only those people who have a valid reason for owning one can get them.

Is there a standing ovation icon because this deserves it

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

 

[arthwollipot]

Okay, I admit that response was a little over-the-top.

 

[Cain]

Other people with guns.

You can't even spell self-defense much less understand it. Every day proud Americans gun down attackers wielding knives, or non-attackers holding nothing at all. Have fun shooting paper targets.

 

[Cain]

Is there a standing ovation icon because this deserves it

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

You quoted the wrong person...

 

[cullennz]

You quoted the wrong person...

Nope

 

[cullennz]

Okay, I admit that response was a little over-the-top.

Not really

 

[cullennz]

You can't even spell self-defense much less understand it. Every day proud Americans gun down attackers wielding knives, or non-attackers holding nothing at all. Have fun shooting paper targets.

You think people should feel pride for killing a human being?

 

[MikeG]

That's ridiculous. Why do you need a gun for protection? What are you protecting yourself from? Other people with guns. Of which there aren't any because only those people who have a valid reason for owning one can get them.

You think people should feel pride for killing a human being?

Have a care. You may just be falling for the wiles of the best exponent of poe on the forum.

 

[Information Analyst]

In the USA we are protected from this kind of action; fourth amendment.

Making storage facilities open for inspection by the police is presumably a condition of getting a firearms licence in Australia, same as it is in the UK. In that context it's not "unreasonable," nor I suspect would it count as a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

 

[Information Analyst]

Have a care. You may just be falling for the wiles of the best exponent of poe on the forum.

Cain is a rare creature - an American who understands irony.