I don't profess to understand the US gun culture BakerStreet , so you know three Australians and have lookerd at some sites promoting ideals which fit your argument, so what, you are not an australian, you don't live here so you are making assumptions, why is it that you should be so offended that we do not share your enthusism for weaponary, like many people in your own country. Australians in the main are not obsessed with guns, nor is there is a strong culture surrounding it. As for hunters, without a permit you cannot own a gun, to get a gun here you have to be a sporting shooter, a farmer or LICENSED hunter, given this and the lack of large scary animals to take a shot at, the is little reason to hunt except for feralpigs, horses and buffolos, and the odd fox, and millions of rabits, all of the culling of these is done by porfessional hunters generally enlisted by the government themselves. Permits are hard to get, if not impossible, for any other reason, unless you purchase them on the black market. I myself grew up on a farm where we had gun to shoot wild dogs, actuall we had one, my Uncle also collects gun, mostly old classics. I have used many guns Including military weapons like SLRs, M 16, M 60s, this was due to service, yet all I learnt from this, is that unless I decide to take up target shooting I have no need for them.
Australians are not a paranoid nation we in the main do not feel trhe need to bare arms, nor is it our right. Whether you like it or not gun use in Australia is not part of our culture nor are gun users in the majority. Having said this I do know people over who would agree with on your pointof view. The difference is you can access these weapons, we can't. If you expect me to respect your views show some respect for the views of others.
As I said before the figures mentioned above quoting 2.5 million, are based on a survey, not accurate by any means. As for your claim that the gun by back scheme was a failure, well you pbviously didn't bother to look at the guns that were handed in, not to mention the amount of people who had the arms taken from, under the dob in illegal owners scheme. The reality is we as a nation are not obsessed with ownership of guns, and I think I can speak with more aurthority than yourself. Nor do we appreciate any more having the likes of some of you more well known gun owners coming over here telling us how we should do things , any more than you seem to appreciate discussing you somewhat over armed population. On the subject of whether guns kill, a gun is a weapon, therefore in the wrong hands it becomes dangerous, does it not, therefore common sense tells me thta the less guns the less gun deaths. The other point being is that In Australia you are not permitted to own auto matic or semi auto matic weapons, why? because the more bullets you pump out the higher potential for death, or injury. I find it interesting that a person from a country with such a high rate of gun related deaths would even try tpo argue anything even slightly contary to this argument. Another fact is that you have a better chance of survival from a knofe attack than you have from a high veliocity projectile, again just common sense. I am yet to meet someone who can throw a knife a few hundred metres, hitr there target and tear a gaping hole on the exit.
GUNS DON'T KILL, HOWEVER THEY DO A GREAT JOB OF ASSISTING A HUMAN TO KILL, AND FROM THE COMFORT OF A RELATIVELY LONG SAFE DISTANCE. There is not argument to support gun ownership on the level it exists in the US. NONE.
However if you guys want to have them so be it just don't try and push your bullshit arguments on us, cause we are sich of the likes of the NRAA, and Charlton Heston, preaching to us. In your country it seems that you guys have amajority of support in the populace, in ours it is the minority. VERY VERY different cultures. Which is why you would have to look real hard for a gun shop in most towns in this country,. We don't need them because we are not shit scared of an attack from some unseen enemy.
