TheWiggman
Haters' gonna hate
It's all to be taken in context I believe. The Middle East would look at the western culture and consider our attitude towards alcohol to be abhorrent. It costs our system billions in health, takes lives every year on the road, breaks up relationships etc. but it's part of our culture and we accept it. Granted, the government and society in general have taken steps in recent times to lessen its effect.
Most Aussies though consider having alcohol available to the general public 100% fine (plus you can't walk into a school and take down a student body with a slab of VBs).
The more trigger-happy Yanks wouldn't consider handing a 9 year old an Uzi at a shooting range to be an issue. This probably happens at shooting ranges across the country every single day. I consider an Uzi to be a completely unnecessary firearm to be owned by a civillian full stop, but if I'd grown up shooting with them I'd probably wonder what all the fuss is about.
One life could have been saved here if full automatics weren't legal, yes, but I don't think that's a reasonable argument to ban them. Zero people have died in this country at shooting ranges. Numerous people have died playing rugby league (I recall 3 in one weekend back in the '90s), but we shouldn't ban that. The real issue is what purpose these types of guns serves and at what cost. Purpose is fun at ranges, cost is the occasional mass shooting with more lives taken than if a bolt action or similar was used. Absolutely not worth the cost.
Seeing some of the videos of fanatical NRA members (selective presentation by the media mind you), you'd have to wonder how the country will ever address the issue with any sort of vigour. While many people still believe that a legitimate reason to own a firearm is self defence, there's little hope.
Most Aussies though consider having alcohol available to the general public 100% fine (plus you can't walk into a school and take down a student body with a slab of VBs).
The more trigger-happy Yanks wouldn't consider handing a 9 year old an Uzi at a shooting range to be an issue. This probably happens at shooting ranges across the country every single day. I consider an Uzi to be a completely unnecessary firearm to be owned by a civillian full stop, but if I'd grown up shooting with them I'd probably wonder what all the fuss is about.
One life could have been saved here if full automatics weren't legal, yes, but I don't think that's a reasonable argument to ban them. Zero people have died in this country at shooting ranges. Numerous people have died playing rugby league (I recall 3 in one weekend back in the '90s), but we shouldn't ban that. The real issue is what purpose these types of guns serves and at what cost. Purpose is fun at ranges, cost is the occasional mass shooting with more lives taken than if a bolt action or similar was used. Absolutely not worth the cost.
Seeing some of the videos of fanatical NRA members (selective presentation by the media mind you), you'd have to wonder how the country will ever address the issue with any sort of vigour. While many people still believe that a legitimate reason to own a firearm is self defence, there's little hope.