IS MISE I have the perfect response to your comments associated with your; 'Crimes (Homes Invasion) Amendment Act, 1994 No 84 NSW'. That mutual friend of yours ? A Mr Ithaca 37DS POL SPEC. with his several children, 12g and the daughter, 'Flechettes' A sight to behold in Vietnam ! These cowardly 'home invaders' wouldn't like to meet that family on a dark night, me thinks ?

Hello there FOXY...

I don't believe it's the handgun, the rifle or shotgun that's the real question, nor is it the regulatory controls imposed upon each category of F/A ? Rather it's more the various modifications that can be so easily achieved by criminals, that's the real concern amongst legislators and authorities ? There are dozens of backyard armourers who can easily shorten a barrel, remove a stock, literally shorten a weapon right down to a concealable piece ? These measures mean only one thing, the weapon's going to be used in the commission of a crime !

It's a good paying hobby, is a backyard armourer. And if you have sufficient skills, and can completely remove all traces of a serial number, well the weapon is worth even more ! In my years in the job, BEFORE the advent of Port Arthur and the tougher F/A laws, any boofhead I caught with a shortened F/A went down for it. Usually on conspiracy to commit a felony in the old days ? You simply can't furnish a satisfactory answer to a Court as to why you've a shortened F/A in your possession, during hours of darkness as an example !

Ask any copper - All departmental resources should be targeted at licencing the 'applicant' (the person), not so much the F/A. Sure particulars of a F/A is useful. 'Full data' on the licence holder is essential.

eg...

Criminal profile;
Psychological profile;
Medical profile;
Vocational profile;
VALID 'reason's' for a licence to possess F/A's.

You could well argue, most of those enquiries are commensurate with breaching an individuals privacy ? Authorities MUST preserve an individual's privacy. If you wish to have a F/A, why worry, what's there to hide ?

Governments must preserve public safety, it's that simple really.

Dear O Sung Wu,

I disagree.

As stated previously most other countries severely
restrict private handgun ownership. but there are
at least in the many millions of handguns in the United
States - and weapons of this type are used in
a very large percentage of the murders that occur
each year. In the 1990s, the
American handgun homicide rate was heaps of times the
average rate for England, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland,
Australia, Israel, and Canada combined.

We don't want to go down in that direction and permit
the widespread access to handguns in this country.
As I stated earlier - that's only my opinion.
I shall leave you to yours.

Cheers.

This happen 24 hours ago.

Quote;

ATLANTA (AP) — A police chief in Georgia told a 911 dispatcher he accidentally shot his wife while moving a handgun that was in their bed, according to a recording released Friday.
Peachtree City police Chief William McCollom called for help at 4:17 a.m. New Year's Day and reported accidentally shooting his 58-year-old wife, Margaret. The Associated Press obtained a recording of the call Friday through an open records request. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting.
McCollom spoke calmly in the audio recording, telling a dispatcher he needed medical help for an accidental gunshot wound at his suburban home, about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta.
"Who shot her?" the dispatcher asked.
"Me," McCollom said. "The gun was in the bed, I went to move it, and I put it to the side and it went off."
During the call, McCollom said his wife was having difficulty breathing and appeared to be suffering from both internal and external bleeding. She was flown by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition Thursday.
End quote

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/02/william-mccollom_n_6407880.html

It will interesting to hear our resident churlish poster explain this in terms of; “single and doubtless rare accident”, “foolishness “, “unthinking person”. This was a police veteran.

SteelRedux,

You are highly emotional, not the scientific sort at all. Otherwise you might not always be guilty of researcher error - where you cherry-pick to find the evidence to support your own opinions.

Just think a bit though. Difficult, but do try hard. Now, would you say that police accidentally shooting their wives is usual?

Most people would say no.

Incidents like that are newsworthy because they are very, very uncommon and are reported to (regrettably) titillate a dumbed-down audience who can then act shocked and disgusted, "Aint it awful", and feel almost alive for a fleeting instant.

@Foxy, Saturday, 3 January 2015 4:05:12 PM

Still ducking that not-so-insignificant matter of who commits those gun crimes in the US, eh? My earlier post refers,

onthebeach, Saturday, 3 January 2015 1:30:18 PM
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=6689&page=4

Steele Redux,

So what?

The cause of the accident was carelessness or a faulty pistol or he pulled the trigger.

Seems to be on the same footing as accidentally dropping the hair dryer in the wife's bath.

Foxy,

The USA is number one on the list of private gun ownership but doesn't come anywhere near first in firearm murders.

"The key facts are:

• The US has the highest gun ownership rate in the world - an average of 88 per 100 people. That puts it first in the world for gun ownership - and even the number two country, Yemen, has significantly fewer - 54.8 per 100 people
• But the US does not have the worst firearm murder rate - that prize belongs to Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica. In fact, the US is number 28, with a rate of 2.97 per 100,000 people
• Puerto Rico tops the world's table for firearms murders as a percentage of all homicides - 94.8%. It's followed by Sierra Leone in Africa and Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean"
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list