Heh Beetle. Sound like the days of Arthur Fonzarelli are alive and well. Back then they called it "Service". Now they call it "Mistrust." Best part about those days were Drive in theatres. Ahh how I miss them.
Now for another congratulatory post. This time for the Aussies..Well said Tronski ! It appears the rationality of your post is lost on our American friends. Notice laz, the use of the word friends. Noone here is your enemy. We are all "Allies"
(Even with the silly ones
)
Back to the matter at hand...(pause to open up another window for page 1. )
For brevity I shall deal with Mav's post. As stated, a good one. Well written for a short reply and mature of thought as Id expect from one with his experience.
I do not expect all Police Officers, past or present to agree with my beliefs. Whether they be in the States, in the Mother Country or here home in Oz. My opinions are my own and I base them from my own experience and form them as a result of my own personal conclusions.
I do not use Statistics to tell me whether I am right or wrong as I neither like them nor trust them. Notice I do not quote Statistics in support of my arguement and the one post I did use them actually benefitted the alterior arguement to the thread. I like to play fair. Im not saying your wrong. Just that your not right either.
Nowhere have I stated in any way shape or form that I am the sole person to be trusted with a firearm. (Nice attempt at subversive manouvreing tho boys. The greatest lies are half truths. Use them all the time
) Now to my least favorite part of interesting debates....quotes. I choose my good mate and American collegue in Blue, Mav.
In short you seem to suffer from a serious stereotype of Americans. Not my problem as long as you stay over there.Id like nothing better than to come and visit you boys. In fact its on the cards. A couple of your countrymen have been good enough to avail themselves of my hospitality and I have found them to be excellent people. A 3rd "Yank" heads my way early next year. I suspect I shall like him to.
I do not believe I suffer from the stereo typing you suggest Mav. Every country has its share of idiots. Yours and mine, however that is not how I view the American People. I neither think of them as Warmongers, Capitilist pigs or Infidels. Just normal people who enjoy the same things in general we do over here.
You guys seem more than a little bent out of shape on your fixation with internal Politics and statistically driven sports but other than that you appear normal to me.
The mentality of Firearm ownership is not new to me. As stated previously in another thread, it was one I once shared. I perhaps have been fortunate tho, that I have lived in both areas of this debate. What your countrymen hold as their "right" to possess firearms is no different, tho admittedly on a larger scale, to what my own did, not so long ago. Change was forced upon us. Strangely, it appears to work and we now live in a different culture from before. I post not out of malice or blatant obsessive ignorance but as one who has seen and lived through both sides of the arguement.
Do you think we werent saying the exact same thing you all are now in arguement concerning Gun Ownership? Think again.
You seem to think I support a gun in every household. I never said that and do not support that. I do not support ownership of firearms for felons and quite a few misdemeanor offenders as well.Not at all. I do not think for a moment you support felons or Crims as we know them here having possession of Firearms. That would be absurd. My arguements however have not been whether or not Crims should be in possession of firearms but the ordinary householder. If you look back though my posts in this thread, I give my reasons. The principle being that you are more likely to be killed by the innocent man than the guilty one. (Inner City scum holes not withstanding.....and yes, we have them to)
You seem to think you are superior and have better judgement than the majority of your countrymen and are therefor better suited to own a firearm or use one in your profession. That screams of arrogance in that you openly flaunt the carrying of a weapon but do not trust your neighbors to own one responsibly, absent any criminal intent or misuse of one.(I'll seperate this paragraph, using this as part 1 to best illustrate my response to it. I dont believe it will detract from its intent as originally posted)
Well perhaps without Deja's rapid response reply you may have thought a little more before posting this bit. (Your post was looking pretty good up till here
)
In many respects, I wouldnt trust some of my countrymen with a butterknife, let alone a semi auto rifle. I highly suspect you would say that of some of your own without much arguement.
Superior is a strong word and smacks of egotism. Deja may remember one Gaming Programmer calling me a "Megalomaniac" some years ago. It sticks in my memory as I remember laughing out loud and saying "He's got me". I am certainly a confident person, tho I would not say over confident as they always tend to come unstuck somewhere down the line. At the same time, I bleed as well as the next man and in this country, those with big heads, generally end up getting them punctured
Something I try to avoid at the best of times.
I dont openly "flaunt" carrying a weapon either. I comment on it in this thread as thats the threads purpose. The pic as previously stated was humour for Laz. I have 1 picture of a colt .45 in my house that the wife made for me. Thats my only claim to flaunting. I carry a firearm for occupational useage but you dont see me hunting anymore. I've gone from small and furry to big and scaley. Fish are my prey now. Its more relaxing.
As my countryman, Tronski has indicated, Firearms arent that big an issue in this country unless you live up north where red headed step children run free and teeth run sideways. Hence outside my occupation, there little room for discussion on the subject in my lifestyle and even then we curse the damn things cause they are a b*tch to get in and out of a car with.
Here in the US an Officer is supposed to uphold the rights of their fellow citizens and act in the interest of protecting them and the Constitution that guarantees those rights. Denial of liberty and property is only the result of criminal actions of the individual, not a blanket condemnation of the entire society.Now this Mav, is GOLD! Mav GOLD!
A well structured section of literature and may I say, the defining point in your post that has your American brothers hooked. Combining a smidgen of Patriotism with the herioc blue figurine upholding and protecting the most sacred of annuls, your Constitution. The subtle introduction of Liberty and sanctity of rights for the working Class man really has Pulitzer written all over it.
I tell ya Mav, your writing my next speech !
Ok, enough of my santimonious dribble
Your job however Mav, is/was the same as mine. We acknowledge as individuals that we joined and serve to protect the lives and property of those around us. We know, that we are in the employ NOT of the people, but the Government that pays us our wages. The people riot, pillage and plunder when left to their own devices. We serve the common good. The people do not often see that as they are concerned in the now.
