From media reports, getting illegal guns is a walk in the park. But getting a firearm legally is difficult.

Suseonline and her forum buddies who obviously like to cheer one another on think that all makes sense and more redundant laws and bans might help.

However most people would prefer that police put their resources into collaring criminals, instead of being forced to constantly maintain records on and look over the shoulder of properly licensed citizens. The firearms registry is a joke, a white elephant.

But why treat respectable law-abiding citizens as likely criminals anyhow? Where is the justification for random police inspections in licensed firearms owners' homes? Have these Aussies lost their rights?

The expensive bureaucratic paper-shuffling nightmare that Howard caused to be introduced did nothing to deter wrongdoers.

As well, we are years down the track from Howard without any independent national university research on the causes of violence. Who knows what could be contributing. However there is evidence that some of the changes in society are likely contributors.

Onthebeach, I don't care about people who want to have a gun 'just in case' in their possession. I don't believe any civilian has a 'right' to have a gun.

Who declared this 'right' anyway? Maybe some bloke who never grew up from enjoying his cowboy and Indian games ?

We don't want to be like America and their 'shoot first and ask questions later' mentality.
I am happy we don't have their trigger happy lifestyle , and hope we never will.
Luckily, I am far from alone in that hope...

Suseonline,

If you read my post you will see that I was actually referring to citizens' rights in a more general sense.

No problems though, most would totally 'get' your ferocious prejudice against men, firearms and the US, and your totalitarian solutions. Bans. Your way or the highway.

Why put up the original post though if it is all non-negotiable and you have nothing to discuss and learn?

For you it is an irrelevancy, but most people would be interested to know the incidence of violence and what is driving it. The Chinese authorities are wondering about the effect of social change (my link provided earlier refers). They were not so obtuse and politically correct to leap to the conclusion that the weapons used, examples being an axe and knives, revealed a 'knife culture' and registering or banning sharp implements was the solution.

Dear Suse,

<<I would hate to see all our elderly people 'armed'.>>

Who ever mentioned 'all'?

There may be many things I could hate seeing in you, perhaps you pull your nose, or your dress is too long or too short? or the inflection of your tone? nevertheless, that doesn't give me a right to make your behaviour illegal.

The only basis for making certain behaviours illegal should be that they harm others or place them under risk.

<<Many have poor hearing and eyesight and may well shoot innocent people who they mistakenly think are threats!.>>

And many are not, hence the necessary tests.

The reason for banning guns in Australia in the first place was to prevent events such as the Port-Arthur massacre. As I skim through the reports, I find all the perpetrators of such massacres to be men in their 20's. Give it a margin into the 30's perhaps even 40's, but as a group, older people have never posed a similar risk, so why restrict their freedom to defend themselves, especially as the police is unable to protect us?

Further, with GPS technology, such massacres can be prevented by constantly tracking all guns and having an alarm set if they ever leave the owner's property.

<<We need to ensure our gun laws remain strict so it remains difficult to obtain guns in Australia.>>

Who is 'We', and why?

<<Far better to have an 'irrational' fear of guns than to worship them as a means to take the law into your own hands...>>

Whoever suggested to worship them?
You USE a fork and knife to eat, a bucket to wash and similarly you may use a gun to protect yourself and your home, if you worship any of these, then indeed your mental-stability is in question and you should not have a gun-license.

As for "taking the law into one's own hands", what gives the 'law' a right to take away one's freedoms in the first place? The only legitimate answer is if you use, or are likely to use your freedom to harm or risk others.

I heard an interesting statistic today.

Every year 48 000 Americans are killed with guns, more than was lost in the entire Vietnam war. The notion that guns are needed for self defence is hugely outdated considering that more people are killed with their own guns than are ever in the position to defend themselves.

Guns used for sport should be just for that, non automatic rifles that can be kept at home, secured in a safe, and pistols that are kept at the shooting range. At no point should anyone be found in possession of a firearm in public without a special license.

I remember a quote from Mad Magazine that actually says it all:

"Guns don't kill children, Children kill children."

Do the reports prove that a similar number would not die if guns were magically removed from the planet? Does violence suddenly cease to exist?

BTW, the number killed in law enforcement was?

I went to Wikipedia for some quick numbers on crime in the US. Contrary to what is being implied here (that the crime rate grows with the number of guns), the crime rate peaked in the early 90's and has been falling since.

See here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

Then I remembered this 2010 report concerning the UK,
"England and Wales has one of the worst crime rates among developed nations for rapes, burglaries and robberies, a major report has found."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7922755/England-has-worse-crime-rate-than-the-US-says-Civitas-study.html

Nothing said about the UK murder rate to compare withe the US, but this report was available (scroll down),

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
Yes, the murder rate in the US was higher than the UK, but not so shabby compared with many other countries.

Going back to the US numbers it was said that the murder rate is much higher for young African Americans and for certain districts.

What all of this easy and quick research proves is that it is simplistic and misleading to blame crime, violence and murder on a particular weapon. It is highly likely that there are other economic and social factors at work. So China is right not to blame its school murders on knives and a 'knife culture'. It will not be pre-judging what appears to be a problem rooted in social and economic changes.causes