Foxy,

"Personally, with guns - I'd be terrified to use one.
The noise for a start would scare me."

Easily overcome, just start out with an air gun, no noise to speak of.

Toni,

'Life of Brian' love it, my all time favorite comedy.

As in the past I have advised that those people whole live in wonderland, I think Alice is waiting at the meeting place for you all to get on the bus so you can all go back to Alice's Wonderland.
The rest being aware of the 'real' world around us all, will continue with the very serious discussion on 'The Greens are the new invasive species'.
Actually I much prefer the gun debate than an irrelevant topic/group like the greens.
The 'greens' are in fact a branch of the 'noxious weed' family, and as such, like all weeds they must be eradicated.
Many gardening shows recommend 'round-up'.
Apparently to administer the 'weed killer', once you have mixed it with the appropriate amount of water and put it in a spray bottle, you then approach the offending invasive and unwanted species until you are approx 20 or 30cm from it, starting from the top and continue spraying till you have reached the shoes, uh sorry, ground.
Now this is not my opinion or words but merely repeating what many 'experts' have been saying for a long time.
Just quickly, I'd like someone to start a new topic specifically about a real and relevant issue of the elderly and what kinds of defensive gadgets or weapons they would be allowed to carry, to save their very lives.

Gentlemen,

My apologies if I've offended any of you.

However, you seem to be in denial of the contributions
that so many people (like my parents who came to this country
as refugees) have made. They joined other migrants in the
building of Australia's capital structures that were to serve
the nation for many decades to come. Their economic contribution
was significant at a time when Australia needed it most.

I won't go into the details. The history books can supply
that information.

Some people have the tendency to moralise, to say endless
things to other people about how to behave, how to clean up
their houses. Surely we need to clean up ours first.
The days have long gone when we had the genuine moral
authority from which to preach to others. Let us regain that
ground, take a fearless moral inventory, do the work on
ourselves that we still need to do. Heal our hearts.
Get rid of the negativity - it will free our souls.
There is new life waiting to happen here, as soon as we own
up. Nothing less will heal our nation.

Oooooops - posted this on the wrong discussion.
It should have gone to the "Civil War" one.
My apologies.

Is Mise,

A gun wouldn't do me much use I'm afraid.

I don't have nerves of steel like you do.
I could not be calm and responsible either in
its care or use. And I would be scared of hurting
someone. I'd be more concerned about that then
their hurting me.

I had an incident once - when I was studying at night
and was on my way to class and got held up by another
student who demanded my money from me. I didn't argue.
I said - "sure just leave me enough for a cup of coffee
during my lecture break this evening." He asked me
how much I needed - I told him and gave him the rest of
what I had. And we both walked away.

I saw him on campus a couple of days later carrying a
large Art portfolio. He did not recognise me. He was
a bit zonked out on the night he bailed me up. So I
wasn't surprised that he didn't recognise me during the
day.

Anyway, I did not report it to the police. What would that
have achieved? Besides, had I had a gun - imagine what
would have happened? And to what end? This way I was
just out a few bucks. Big deal.