A lot of people sight the US as a reason for not allowing gun ownership. Well if you could let me put those “gun deaths” ithat the media and organisations like GCA, love to use as a reason for banning firearms into perspective. The vast majority of gun deaths in the US are as a result of ILLEGAL activities not law abiding citizens. Banning firearms as little or no impact on the illegal/criminal use of weapons, whether that’s firearms, knives or baseball bats. The next 2 influences on those figures are suicides (while they are regrettable if someone wants to take their life, access to firearms won’t make their mind up to do it), and people protecting their life and property. Now the media never break down those figures, well lets face it, that would detract from the sensationalism…. the next category is accidents and while I think the US has good guns laws their inability to force people to store their firearms safely and responsibly leaves a lot to be desired and finally deaths as a result of law enforcement.

I live and worked in the US for a few years and I can tell you that even with the crime, I still felt safer than I do here in Brisbane. I lived in a “safe” area (no area is totally free of crime) but even so I was never at home without a loaded 12Ga and I always carried a loaded 40cal when I was out. While that might seem paranoid, I never really stressed about being out in public and before someone says that a gun gives you a false sense of security and it leads to people taking risks. I can assure you I still read the situation and kept away from risky situations.

We do not have a level playing field on this subject and I doubt we ever will.

I don’t think there should any genuine reason. If you apply for a gun license and the cops issue it then that should be all the genuine reason you need.

Next categories. L for Long arms, P for pistols and R for anything else the government wants to call a weapon, like pepper spray and batons etc.

I think when the house is unoccupied all firearms should unloaded and secured. If the house is occupied i.e. you’re home then the only rule is that the firearms should not be able to accessed by unlicensed people or minors.

We need a law change to allow people to protect their lives and property from unlawful acts, i.e. trespass, break and enters, assaults etc.

Do away with long arm registration and PTA’s. If you have the license for a long arms then all you should have to do it go to the gun store, order the firearm and wait a week. In that week the gun store are required by law to advise your state licensing branch. If there is an issue then that sale is blocked. Blocked sales should be subject to appeal to an independent agency.

I can guarantee you that most cops have no issues with law abiding citizens owning and using firearms. What the various state governments are doing is using the police as a big stick to make owning a gun expensive and chockers with red tape. To make society safer! NO… to make it difficult and unattractive to own them… Also most cops will admit they have little or no chance of effectively protecting the citizens of any state. We have 10 000 cops in Qld and if that number was increased to 50 000 they still couldn’t get to your place in time to save your life! At least US governments recognise and accept that fact and extend the right to protect your self to each and every law abiding citizen.

Government protection that be summed up like this: : “if your life is in danger and you have the time to call 000, the cops will turn up in time to draw a chalk like around you”

I rekon there should be a three month period that includes a background check , a psychological examination and saftey training.
If after three months the authorities are happy that this person is mentally stable and not a criminal then they should be allowed to safely own a semi-auto long arm.

When it comes to magazine capacity , I dont see the point in restrictions on legal magazines , since criminals can modify or obtain higher capacities.
Also when it comes to a criminal with a 10 round magazine firearm Vs unarmed people , they will kill/wound as many as they would with a 10+ , magazines can be changed in a split second or even dual wielding firearms increases firepower.

What our law makers should be focusing on is stopping unstable people from harming people , not banning tools or sports equipment because unstable people or criminals use them to kill or commit crime.
Cars kill more and have always killed more people in Australia than guns , yet we still have under 18 year olds behind V-8′s.

Firearms wont harm or kill anyone , its unstable people like verifiable nutjobs such as Martin Bryant that do.

I would also remove the ability for police commisionars to simply ban a rifle/shotgun/whatever simply because it looks like something else (i.e. the Vector pump gun)

I myself do support rolling back the 1996 and 2002 gun laws and I support seeing licenced, law-abiding recreational hunters and target shooters being able to legally own all semi-auto longarms and pump-action shotguns. These laws made no impact on making Australia safer or affect the pre-1996 decline in violence (both firearm and non-firearm). In regards to magazine capacity for semi-auto centrefire rifles, make the capacity up to 10 rounds. Ten is a good and even number, not to mention that it is still the current magazine limit for all longarms.

Alan,

If you do your research, the gun crime rates in the US are not as bad as what our pollies and media make it out to be. In fact, gun crime rates are at an all-time low in the US over the past couple of years due to many American states having lassiez-faire gun laws and over 40 American states having Carry Concealable Weapons (CCW) legislation on the books which allow law-abiding American citizens to carry a handgun for self-defence under licence. The parts of the US that have bad gun crimes are the states and cities e.g. Chicago/Cook County region and Washington D.C. that have restrictive gun laws, especially on handguns.

In closing, we (as in all law-abiding firearm owners of Australia) should work hard to convince the public that rolling back these bans won’t result in a Hobbesian free-for-all (something that the anti-gunners, the media, politicans and former PM John Howard went to great lengths to instill into the Australian people’s psyche since 1996). If we don’t do it, the antis will continue to stomp us at every opportunity.