Foxy; now that's not true "Most countries have restrictions and laws concerning guns" lots of peace loving countries besides the USA have unrestricted gun laws. Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia just to name a few. And these jokers want to add Australia to that list!
I advocate more guns for the army, female army cadets so they can shoot male cadets who rape and humiliate them. Because of public opinion the military these days, outwardly condemns rape and bastardisation of cadets, but at one time, like the police force, it was seen as part of the culture, the attitude was/is "Toughen up girlie, we know ya love it, just a bit of slap and tickle, and keep your mouth shut!"

Dear Paul,

Thanks for the humour.

I needed it!

Foxy, never let the mob on here get ya down. They can't insult ya if your "uninsultable". I treat this forum as a bit of a joke, never taking anyone that serious including myself, who reads it, Barack Obama, well not this week, he's a bit busy with cash flow problems to pop in for a chat.

Dear Foxy,

Gun ownership in the USA is not unrestricted, far from it.
The USA has more gun laws than Australia.

Not only do you need to brush up on the gun laws, there and here, but also on the driving laws.
Anyone in Australia can legally drive a car/motor vehicle without doing a driving test, having a licence or being in anyway restricted by vehicle type or horsepower.

Just how could the 70 year old lady protect herself from that 25 year old rapist?
You say that you believe that she should be able to do so, but she only weighs 7 stone (wet), so come on, give us all some practical ideas.
Perhaps you or another poster might tell us how, in your opinion Anita Cobby could have escaped from the five men who raped, tortured and murdered her.
You never know, your advice might save some woman in the future.

Paul1405, "And these jokers want to add Australia to that list!"

While that might appeal to the peanut gallery it is a misrepresentation of the views expressed in this thread, mine especially.

I am not aware of anyone who has proposed abolition of all restriction as you say, in particular the firearms licence, which is and always was, the only robust control in the system.

Your fellow Australians with firearms licences are very respectable law-abiding people of good character. They complete the requisite training which also covers the regulations in detail. They should know their oats where the regulations are concerned.

When they are telling you that the bureaucratic paper chase of the Howard inspired changes are poorly targeted, do not treat the real risks and are wasteful of police resources - directing police onto looking over the shoulders of respectable licensed citizens instead of criminals - you should stop and listen. Why do you imagine that such people, often with decades of obeying the laws and being model citizens and probably having a firearms licence for many years too, would be misinforming you? What possible reasons could they have?

Australia has very low gun crime and numbers were trending down before Howard, and after. NZ has low gun crime, with high ownership numbers.

I have never met anyone with a firearms licence or a senior, experienced police officer who didn't agree that criminals can always get whatever tools they want. Howard made no difference to that. All agree too that the effective treatments are severe penalties for illegal ownership and illegal use, and a more trained police, with better cooperation between jurisdictions.

The short terms of Parliaments ensure that politicians are about populism and that is problematical. They are unlikely too to give police the resources and cooperation between jurisdictions they require for effective policing.

Continuing lawlessness by OMG gangs has seen some cooperation between the the federal and State governments, which is good.

http://tinyurl.com/OMG-laws-Qld

My "All agree too that the effective treatments are severe penalties for illegal ownership and illegal use, and a more trained police, with better cooperation between jurisdictions.",

should have been,

"All agree too that the effective treatments are severe penalties for illegal ownership and illegal use, AND MORE TRAINED POLICE, with better cooperation between jurisdictions."

- The police need higher numbers of fully trained police out there on the ground, not sitting in offices entering useless details on the white elephant gun registries for example. The criminals don't buy from legitimate sources and they certainly don't register their guns. Nor do apply for licences which they wouldn't get anyhow.