o sung wu, "It's just down to straight bloody common sense, nothing more. Believe me the average copper has more to do with his day, than completing onerous masses of paperwork, over some ridiculous hitherto Summary Offence!"

I agree with you. But that is not the issue I raised.

The Queensland Labor government, coincidentally the same government that is trashing the successful VLAD law against the advice of police, has amended the Weapons Act to make your own private car a 'public place'.

That combined with the previous changes to the Weapons Act, which were highly contentious at the time and remain so, have needlessly created the circumstance where many drivers are already breaking the law by continuing to do what they have always done.

It goes beyond the police being obliged to exercise commonsense and discretion. However, one should always be aware too of the ruling of Sir Garfield Barwick when he was Chief Justice of the High Court, that where there is evidence of a breach, the police have no option other than to charge the person concerned. The police should not be put in the position of having to ignore poorly framed and foolish regulations in an attempt to avoid injustice and negative public relations - getting a very large section of the law-abiding public offside.

What is inescapable here and is illustrated by the example I gave concerning practical, purpose-made rescue knives (a Gerber being one of the best), is there is no contention, no 'ifs' or 'buts' or even 'maybe', that the mere POSSESSION of such tools IS a serious offence. They cannot be carried in a vehicle. Their intended use is irrelevant. Also irrelevant is the character of the owner, the vehicle driver and passengers.

My previous posts refer,
onthebeach, Friday, 23 September 2016 7:22:06 AM
onthebeach, Friday, 23 September 2016 7:28:20 AM
-Refer in particular to Category M weapons
(with apologies for misspell of Murphy's Law)

The changes to the weapons regulations are not being explained to the public and there are no plans to advise visitors from other jurisdictions.

This is a comment not on the torch but on the ads on OLO. The ones I get are related to things I've previously searched on-line. Last year I researched venetian blinds on-line and then bought some through a local company (not on-line). For months afterwards I got venetian blind ads appearing on OLO. I'd never seen these ads before I googled them. Thankfully they appear to have stopped.
Currently I am getting ads from Booking.com, for deals at specific places where I have already and recently either searched for or booked accommodation. Clearly the ads are targeted and are based on my recent on-line activity.
So, Is Mise, if you were seeing ads for the torch before you started this topic, then you were probably searching on-line for self-defense items or suchlike. Now of course, because of the numerous mentions in the forum, we are all seeing these ads (I'd never seen one before). Out of curiosity I have just checked the other current topics to see whether it is restricted to this one, or now generally on OLO - the latter, the ad turns up on the Muslim topic, along with the persistent Booking.com. It will be interesting to see how long the torch ad persists.

Gerber Fast Draw Knife 22-47162 22-07162. The ad says it's safe to buy. Should be on your screen soon.
It's faster than a fire extinguisher. And ads for buying corrupt fire-men also appear.

nicknamenick, "Gerber Fast Draw Knife 22-47162 22-07162"

You have misrepresented what I said. Why?

I referred a number of times to the Gerber RESCUE knife as an example when discussing Qld regulations.

If you want to contribute to the discussion, great, you can make a start right now.

If I want to advertise the fast draw Gerber what's that to you?
Hinderer Rescue - Serrated, Sheath. Built with firefighters in mind, the Gerber Hinderer model 22-01534 is a knife loaded with features.
It's a folding knife for fire extinguisher rage. Suitable for fire-trucks drive-by hosing of bikies.

".. under current legislation swords do not need to be registered to a licence issued under the provisions of the Weapons Act 1990."
They are OK like Gerber driver-slashers if used for lawful purpose such as slicing sandwiches. If the suntanned dude goes for his sandwich the Police officer may use his sabre or samurai sword in the line of duty.