Bazz,
As the saying goes, intellectuals are largely ineffectuals. The bushies are well aware of that.

Who's talking about free access?
It'd just be rather nice for the next victims of a home invasion to be able to keep something, legally, with which to defend themselves.
In this coutry it is a criminal offence to keep a cricket bat for the purpose of defence, but it's OK to keep your favorite bat (cricket) in the bedroom, and it's OK to use it for self defense as long as you didn't have the intention of doing so.

It is even a crime, when out hunting rabbits, to have in one's possession cartridges loaded with heavy shot intended for defence against pigs; on the other hand it is perfectly legal to have such cartridges on the off chance that one might see a feral pig and get the opportunity of killing it.

However to intend to defend yourself is illegal.

Australia, the smart country.

Pelican "We would face the same problems as the US"....

if 13% of our population were Negroid.

Take a look at the prison statistics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States#Minorities

39% Black prisoners, in a country that's only 13% Black.

34% White prisoners, in a country that's 72% White.

"As the saying goes, intellectuals are largely ineffectuals. The bushies are well aware of that."

They sure are, at least until they are sitting on the dunny one day and they look down to see the bowl is full of blood or they are rushed in for a triple bypass. Then the "young doc with the slanty eyes" is the best bloke in the world.

Happened to two older cockies I know in the last few months.

It is the psyche that is built up around guns and the culture it instils. Guns that can not only be used in defense but in attack and after a few drinks having a gun around the home is more dangerous than not especially in relaton to heat of the moment situations. More deaths will come from having guns so freely available than if there is some gun control.

The statistics don't lie when they are so overwhelming.

It is the psyche that is built up around guns and the culture it instils. Guns that can not only be used in defense but in attack.
Pelican,
The same goes for just about everything that the phenomenon of human life can throw at you. People wrongly always argue against the use of utensils instead of the use of their intelligence. It's not what you use to do wrong, it's how you think about doing wrong that is the real problem. I have stated countless times on OLO that we need a change in mentality not more rules & regulations. How did this runaway stupidity in Australia multiply so quickly is what we have to address not the caliber of a rifle. What about the mentality of a magistrate who doesn't dish out penalty to a youth who bashed an old citizen ? Where is the outcry for the crime committed by the member of the Law Society ?
Personally, I can not see any way of improving the present gutter mentality other than by introducing non-military National Service. Now, before anyone hits back with this is no good, come back with an idea how to combat this extremely serious situation.