Agreed. In order to protect the population let the population take practical persuasions, and protect themselves. Mace and pepper spray are a small and practicals jeans of defense.

I wonder how many Australians feel like “defenceless victims”? I don’t. I’ll bet most of us don’t.

There is no ‘right’ to self defence. If you kill someone defending yourself, you will be subjected to a legal enquiry which will clear you - or not - of manslaughter. You could find yourself in jail. The use of ‘non-lethal weapons against a stronger, UNARMED assailant could see you charged with assault. Then there is the proportionate response guff.

“Only the police, it seems, have the right to practical self-defence…”. For heaven's sake man: police face physical danger everyday, protecting us. How often does an ordinary citizen get attacked for doing his job!

Don’t listen to politicians: particularly this rogue senator who can say anything he likes without responsibility. And just think about accidently upsetting some supersensitive madwoman and getting a blast of mace in your eyes.

Absolutely David. Especially if that harm is the result of untreated cancer.

Cancer is a deadly killer that, I'm informed, will in our lifetime impact on one in three of us?

Moreover, according to one reported oncologist, the main difference between benign cancer and malignancy is around a year!?

With death sentence brain cancer taking out more of us than the annual road toll! Ditto equally intractable ovarian cancer!

And usually, only symptomatic, when it's already too late. Unless or except where bismuth 213 is used as the last gasp line of defence or proven, WESTERN MEDICINE, miracle cancer cure!

And officially suppressed or prohibited by alleged, technology agnostic governments!?

Why?

Because of what it thorium (2 cents per KwH) could do to power prices and the sovereign risk in that.

Especially, one believes, for those ( coal-fired ) politicians standing shoulder to shoulder and foursquare against it!

THEIR OWN CONSIDERABLE ENERGY INVESTMENTS AT RISK?

Look, tell your friend, Sarah Hanson Young, that Bismuth, derived from carbon-free U233, which is, in turn, derived solely from carbon-free green energy, thorium.

That it alpha particle bismuth 213 was successfully trialled in various Europen cancer clinics, against (late-stage/regressed) ovarian cancer a long ago as 2006.

Somebody with the ear of the press gallery, needs to stand up and say so, preferably before another victim sails off for a holiday in the Mediterranian? An armful of Nembutal and a quiet death in their sleep?

Preferably before the same news goes viral?
Alan B.

I don't know how old you are ttbn, but at well past my 3 score years & 10, I am no longer capable of taking on successfully, a couple of assailants, & winning.

On a recent occasion I felt decidedly vulnerable at 10.30 PM on a major city railway station in Brisbane. From also recent experience I would not even consider being alone on many unmanned Sydney suburban railway stations at night.

I feel I should be entitled to legally defend myself with any weapon I choose to equal the odds.

In our modern powder puff society, where crims hold sway, & know they will never be properly punished, I would not be happy living in the country, a couple of hundred metres from the nearest neighbour, if I did not have a couple of large, one very protective & a bit aggressive, dogs.

For those worried & denied any protection, even a pressure pack paint can would be a moderate deterrent, & a can of "START YA BASTARD" loaded with ether as it is, would be even better. It may not be pepper spray, but it sure does make your eyes water & sting, if you catch a bit when using it on a recalcitrant engine.

Even with the best will in the world, the police can only ever respond to ever-increasing rimes of violence. And reactive and never ever proactive.

A criminal assault only takes seconds, police and ambo response times, take minutes!

The only exception is in our parliaments and for the politicians who craft our laws/forbid real self-protection for everyone else.

We should have a right to protect ourselves from armed intruders.

Even if their weapons are just their boots and knuckles, given one punch can and has killed.

People who step outside the law to willfully commit crimes of violence and theft! Shouldn't then be entitled to use that law to protect themselves from their intended victim.

I'm with David on this one and would include pump action shotguns loaded with non-lethal, bean bag ammunition. And equipped with a tactical torch.

Particularly if the intended victim is frail and aged!
Alan B.

Hasbeen,

I am 75 years old, and couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag; but that wouldn’t be taken into account if I injured or killed an assailant with a recognised weapon. We are not entitled to defend ourselves with “any” weapon. You could probably get away with braining someone with a walking stick (if your assailant didn’t didn’t take it off you, then brain you) but when you start carrying something that is clearly a weapon you are asking for trouble.

I share the same frustrations as everybody else. I will always be on the side of the people protecting themselves, no matter what they do to creeps. But law and reality prevails, not always wisely. In the meantime, I will try to remember that I’m not what I used to be and avoid unnecessary risks.