Dear Is Mise,

Happy to respond.

You post a story from 8 months ago and wonder why it didn't get more coverage here.

Here is a list of mass shooting from the same country the US over just a four week period this year.

None of those got much coverage either.

Feb 16th 2019 Mass shooting 5 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1328562

Feb 11th 2019 Mass shooting 5 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1324279

Feb 15th 2019 Mass shooting 6 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1327321

Feb 3rd 2019 Mass shooting 4 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1320286

Jan 26th 2019 Mass shooting 5 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1312284

Jan 24th 2019 Mass shooting 4 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1310397

Jan 24th 2019 Mass shooting 4 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1310775

Jan 23rd 2019 Mass shooting 5 dead http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1309114

I'm not about to list all of them from the time of your civilian shooter because it is far too onerous a task.

Now I know stories of civilians taking out the bad guys gives your lot a bulge in your pants because you search for them and repeatedly post them when you can. It completely fits with the type of gun fetishisation that we are trying to avoid in this country.

However the type of society you would have us become where being armed with a firearm is both routine and arguably prudent is not one most thinking Australians want for our nation.

I say again, take your fetish and move. Really. I think I could probably help with the airfare if it was to be permanent. You are a danger to Australians and the toll in innocent lives if you were to get your way would undoubtedly be horrendous.

There you go mate, hopefully that was that the type of response you were after.

Steele,

I knew that I could depend on you, statistics and psychology both.

Hi there STEELEREDUX...

I'm all for sensible gun control. But there's still, a firm place for gun ownership as well. I saw good evidence of that when years ago 1956 or '57 I joined the Hurstville VDC Rifle Club; we shot at the old ANZAC Rifle Range at Liverpool near Sydney.

Being a very conservative club, they could pick & choose who they would admit as members. One of the criteria was you must be a minimum of 17 yoa. All new members were required to attend a 'new members' night, where you were fully appraised of the rules and regulations of the club.

A query I had, what did the initials VDC stand for? As there were many such clubs with those same initials shooting at ANZAC on a Saturday & Sunday? It was short for 'Volunteer Defence Corps' - an initiative by the Government & the Military, to ensure they were never caught short again, with having virtually no men trained, with the use of military rifles.

I accept technology has advanced somewhat. Nevertheless, soldiers will still need to be trained in the use of small arms, irrespective of how advanced technology has become in prosecuting any conflict.

The value of fire-arms in the hands of law-abiding
citizens needs to be measured in terms of lives
saved or crimes prevented not criminals killed.

We need to ask for every criminal killed in self
defense how many innocent people die? To assess
the benefits of self-defense we need to measure crime
and injury averted. The particular outcome of the
offender is of little relevance.

We don't judge whether the police are doing a good
job by the number of criminals they kill each year.
But rather by how well they stop crime. The same
should be true in judging the effectiveness of civilian
defense gun use.

One recent Washington Post story reported that "For
every criminal killed in self-defense, 34 innocent
people die."

cont'd ...

Here's the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/19/guns-in-america-for-every-criminal-killed-in-self-defense-34-innocent-people-die/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1737c98c8233

Dear o sung wu,

I hear you but last week a large town near us had a drive by shooting involving a semi-automatic weapon. The owner of the house returned fire. This was all in a quiet court close to were my mother lives. She has been there over 30 years and nothing like this has ever happened.

Our little country town had shots exchanged between two parties late last year. One of the elderly locals born in the town couldn't recall it ever happening before either.

We now have more guns in this country than pre Port Arthur and gun laws are getting more and more lax each election cycle.

We are marching toward a US style future unless we start to dig our heels in. It will not come with a bang but just in increments although I have little doubt we will likely get a school shooting within the next 5 years given the march of weaponry in our society.

I think the main drive is selfishness which is dressed up as 'individual freedom'. It is all imported US bulldust. My serving cousin has told me his deepening concerns about the number of weapons they are now finding in cars and homes, most not illegal but many in the hands of some people he would prefer not to have been given access.