csteele,

Seeing as we are apparently to leave the small woman to her fate with the large criminal who has broken in to her home; perhaps she may get to a kitchen knife and get in a lucky blow.

Let us instead consider a farmer's wife, all alone at the homestead 'cause hubby is in the far paddocks or has gone to town to a cattle sale.

We won't look at the remote possibility that she may be attacked by a criminal but at the much more probable scenario that a fox may attack her prize chooks.
Why should she not keep the shotgun handy and a couple of rounds in an apron pocket so that she can kill the feral nuisance?

She depends on the chooks for eggs and she has some hens that she has bred to exhibit at the next Show. Her chooks mean a lot to her.

Have some compassion and, at least, let her defend her fowls as well as doing the enviorenment a service by getting rid of one more fox.

Come on Is Mise, the farmers wife should yell csteele at the crook or the fox, that should fix them.

The same misguided control freak ideology applies in national parks.

A while back a couple of passing yachties took a couple of wild feral goats of an island in reef waters. They didn't even have a gun, they caught the things.

They had the book thrown at them, & were fined a fortune.

A couple of months later National Parks spent a fortune with a large team on that island shooting those same goats.

Yep, bureaucracy & the control freaks can not stand anyone doing anything without their consent

Dear Is Mise,

When the conversation turns to chooks you know we are talking about Queensland.

I have no problem with the farmer's wife using a properly registered firearm to protect her chooks. Besides being registered I would want to know that she had a license and had some form of formal training in its proper use including safe storage.

What I wouldn't like to see is her having to confront the sight of her son's brains splattered over his bedroom wall after she had inadvertently left the shells in her apron pocket, something that as we have seen is far more likely in a country with liberal gun laws such as Switzerland.

Dear Hasbeen,

This is a letter that appeared on a forum this year;

Pest control in Queensland 
by: Zane

Hi there,

I am interested in helping any farms out here in Queensland to reduce feral game numbers. Im not sure if this is the place to look but i thought I would give it a shot. Myself and 2 other close friends are looking for land to hunt on. The three of us have a lot of experience and are safe, friendly hunters. We all hold firearms licenses and are members of the SSAA shooting club. We would be happy to supply any information required. 

We have our own hunting gear/rifles and would love to assist any farmers here in Queensland and North NSW with any feral animals that need to be reduced/eliminated. We are based in Brisbane.

We wait in anticipation for any feedback or advice anyone could give us in regards to this.

Cheers,
Zane

These guys felt the need to highlight how safe, experienced, qualified and responsible they were. This is what the public want from those who want to enjoy the sport of shooting and these guys knew that.

If our gun laws help encourage that type of responsible behaviour then why should any of us be complaining?

I think we have got them pretty right and only those ideologues with a Charlton Heston picture over the mantle piece seriously want a move to an American style gun regime.

It is enough to force one to consider if such views are possibly anti-Australian.

csteele,

The farmer's wife is a law-abiding woman and she has a licence, has done the safety training and takes part in club target shooting at the range. She is also a J.P. and is involved in a lot of civic activities. She was also for some years the local Coroner.

However by the time she gets the safe keys, opens the safe and takes out the shotgun then opens the lock on the ammo box and gets a couple of shells out then runs outside, the fox has killed most of her hens and has left.

I wouldn't be surprised if next time she has the gun handy and thus becomes a law breaker.

What if it had been something more serious than a fox?

Dear Is Mise,

I'm a touch confused, you might need to explain a little further.

Are you saying the woman should be allowed to leave a loaded shotgun within handy reach around the house just so she might get a crack at a cheeky fox or in the very unlikely event she had an intruder?

I think she might need to look at securing her hen house a little better.

I know how cunning foxes can be. We lost our prized fowl to one a few years back. However it wouldn't have warranted me having the gun and ammo at the ready. Perhaps chooks are more highly valued in the sunshine state.