Originally posted by lazs2
austrailia allways sounded kind of good to me..... nice big empty country with rugged individuals.
I could even stand the queen being on my money and driving on the wrong side of the road because australia has a great tradition of hot rodders and V8 cars... the gas costs too much because of socialism but... not the end of the world.
nope... the real problem came when they gave up their firearms rights. I can't begin to tell you how much that changed my opinion of australia and its people... I suddenly realized that australia was..... just another british country.
lazs
You do realise that guns are NOT illegal in Australia right?
I have a .22/250, a .270, 2 .22s, a .308, a .303, a 12 guage and a .30/30 not ten feet from where I sit right now...every one of them perfectly legal.
I allso have a concealable weapons permit, and can quite often be found with a Baretta 92 or Browning Hi-Power on my person (would prefer a 1911, but it's a work licence and .45s arent allowed:( )
I probably spend as much time on a range as you do, some of it compulsory for licence requirements, most of it for the pure fun of blasting holes in stuff.
Quite often I share the range with cops, if guns were illegal here I'm pretty sure one of them would have said something by now.
What they banned was assault weapons, pump action shotguns (now that one is beyond me) and semi-autos.
They allso made it a mandatory requirement for firearms owners to have a licence and register their guns.
Apart from close encounters with the porcine kind in dense scrub, I havent missed the semi-autos at all, and the .30/30 is fast enough for that kind of work anyway.
There were a lot of AKs, SKSs,SLRs (FN-FAL), AR15s and 18s, M1s and countless small .22 semis handed in (along with enough M2 .50 BMG machine guns to fit out a rebuilt B24:huh), but you got to keep any bolt action, lever action or break-barrel weapons.
They allso gave ridiculous amounts of compensation for guns handed in, usually WAY above market value. I got $1500 or so for a pair of non-functional, total junk SKSs and a rusty old M1 carbine.
The SAC and SPAS 12, $1400 each, a bit more than twice what I paid for them a few thousand rounds ago.
The only right we gave up was the right to have nutters armed with Chinese assault rifles roaming our tourist spots, dont think they'll be missed much either.
It was way to easy for any idiot to get whatever gun they liked beforehand, I personally, at the grand old age of thirteen, walked into the local gunshop, handed over a couple hundred bucks, and walked out with an Australian Automatic Arms SAC (pretty much a mini SLR chambered for 5.56 NATO and using M16 mags) and two thousand rounds, plus two spare mags.
Came back the next day and bought a Franchi SPAS 12 and 500 rounds.
I hadnt even produced any ID and I walked out of there packing more firepower than any cop in town.
I was too young to drive, drink, vote or join the military, but they were fine with me walking out of the shop one day with an assault rifle and the next with a combat shotgun...dunno about you, but I find that whole scenario a bit disturbing, what if I was some nutter out to go postal?, they had no way of knowing.
That kind of thing cant happen anymore.
BTW
.
Take note of the
Union Jack in the upper left corner , same spot you guys have all those stars.......something vaguely familiar about it??
Hate to break it to ya Laz, but we are, and allways have been stuanchly proud members of the
British Commonwealth.
Doesnt mean we dont think Brits are all limp wristed whinging tea fetishists, but thats beside the point
They are our limp wristed, whinging, tea fetishist mates......who we whup at every sport they ever invented and several they didnt.
Anyone got any pliers? This hook kinda hurts
