Hi there IS MISE...

Thanks for 'jumping in' on this Topic, I always value your contribution whether we agree or not. Of course you're quite correct apropos modifying the 'revolving' long arms, most illegal modifications were undertaken before the licensing protocols were introduced post Port Arthur.

I can see a legitimate case made out for muzzle breaks, on some heavier centre fire rifles, though for the mid range sporting calibres, hardly necessary I would've thought ? And true, the various 'add ons' are scarcely sinister and are by no means indicative of the impending militarization of sporting F/A's ?

What does worry me IS MISE, there seems to be a subtle change in the overall 'character' of sporting/hunting F/A's ? Back in the early sixties, I purchased a beautiful 2nd hand, Sako Forester in .222mag, it cost me a veritable packet even back then, I was only on Army pay. Point is, it had deeply darkened, oiled European furniture, and a bright blued barrel. And I religiously maintained it to preserve it's original pristine condition.

Today, many of the well known European and American manufacturers, are marketing a category of sporting arms that appear more like some ersatz or pseudo assault style weapon, then a sporting piece. Ever shorter barrels, matt black, bi-pods, full pistol grips, and all manner of other 'bibs 'n bobs' ! - true in themselves harmless, still....? You understand what it is I'm trying to say, though somewhat inadequately I'm afraid IS MISE ? Thank you for your contribution.

O sung wu,

The various cosmetic adds-on are no more than a manifestation of a desire to have something like today's soldiers have, even if only in appearance.
Fifty years down the line there will be re-enactors dressing up like today's soldiers just as we have re-enactors doing WWII, WWI, the Boer War, the Civil war, the Crimea and earlier conflicts and periods; noteably the First Fleet in NSW.

The current crop of combat weapon look alikes are called 'Tactical' by their devotees but 'Craptical' by the more conservative shooters.

It's a bit like wearing camoflage clothing to hunt colour blind game animals, fashonable but of no more use than an ordinary shirt.

Hi IS MISE...

I suppose you're right. Your thinking is that of a pragmatist, therefore you see this aspect of shooting more of a 'phase' many younger shooters seem to go through ?

Myself, I have this rather more conflicted view, thinking like an old copper, wondering why the world's leading F/A manufacturers, feel it necessary to configure many of their newer models to resemble that; the next generation of infantry assault weapons ?

You see IS MISE, I suppose 32 + years, of cultivated suspicion, is very hard to shake, especially when there's generally some media reference to the burgeoning illicit firearms market, presented in many of the nightly news bulletins ?

O sung wu,
You certainly know how to open the worm can mate.
I had the recent privilege of returning to Vietnam at the behest of the VA.
They were rebuilding our accommodation and it was cheaper to send us on a three months junket than rehouse and refit us out.
Now remembering just how many guns there were in Vietnam during the conflict and I had at least half a dozen of various calibers, I was absolutely gobsmacked to find, apart from the police,very few guns in the country.
We toured and lived in all parts of the country as guests of the government of Vietnam and it seems the concept of violence has vanished.
Now back here in FNQ I find the communities of the Cape overrun with AR 15s and AK47s in all calibers and makes.
Policing across the Straits is very limited duie to the family reunion passes.
As soon as I can arrange it I, and a lot of my mates, are going to migrate to Vietnam.
I can save $500 a week living there and everything is good and cheap.

The good solid policy of the NSW Greens on firearms, led by David Shoebridge MLC carrying on the excellent work started by Lee Rhiannon, who is now fighting the good fight in the Federal Parliament as a Greens Senator for NSW.

The NSW Greens will continue to campaign for stronger firearms laws, in accordance with the 1996 National Firearms Agreement. The NSW Greens are working towards an end to recreational hunting on public land, ensuring that feral animal control is done effectively, professionally and humanely.
Since 1996 gun laws in NSW have been watered down due to political pressure from the Shooters Party, moving NSW away from the National Firearms agreement and increasing the number of guns and gun owners in NSW. The Greens oppose any increase in the number of firearms within the NSW community.
The Game Council which was created in 2002 to secure the support of the Shooters Party in the NSW Upper House. In mid-2013 the Greens’ decade-long campaign to abolish the Game Council ended in success. Following a damning report into the organisation’s governance, the NSW government announced they would abolish the Game Council and bring its functions relating to feral animal control inside the Department of Primary Industries. The NSW Greens will oppose any moves by vested interests that will lead to a return to the bad old days of a Game Council in NSW.

GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE!..PEOPLE WITH GUNS KILL PEOPLE!

Hi there Paul back to spread some more misinformation?
Tell me why did Sandalplank vote for hunting in National Parks and State Forests?

here's a bit of a post on another forum:
"Mary Cusumano, whose husband was shot in an armed robbery in 1995, has my sympathy but if she cops some flack she only has herself to blame; she let the Greens use her and her dead husband for their own purposes.
I suppose that it is unkind to point out, as some are doing, that she and her family make a considerable part of their income from simulated shooting and killing of human beings.

Quote
Mary could send a simple text message to the customers who pre-ordered the latest Call of Duty, but it’s a job she enjoys. So she dials the phone numbers. All of them.unquote
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/09/the-long-way-is-the-short-way-the-30-year-legacy-of-the-gamesmen/
Quote
Finally, the "Number of Corpses" option tells the engine how many dead bodies to keep on the battlefield. Lowering this option can cause bodies to disappear as new bodies are "created" unquote.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/01/12/cod_world_at_war_gameplay_performance_iq/3#.Vjw4utIrJkg "
One would think that after one's husband was shot dead that video games about killing people would be a bit much to peddle but it seems not so.