BL> No they're not... they only want to remove SLRs. No one has a
 BL> problem with sporting rifles and non-automatic shotguns.

 BG> OK, it seem that at THIS stage, they only want to completely
 BG> ban self-loading and fully-automatic weapons, but surely they
 BG> can't mean to include lowly self-loading .22s as well ? That's
 BG> completely mad, and a typical knee-jerk if ever I saw one.

  The drive-by shooting at Campsie that killed two used a .22
semiauto. The Canberra killing of the Police Commissioner used a .22
Ruger semiauto. The Belangalo backpacker murderer used a .22 Ruger
semiauto... shall I go on? Harmless? I don't think so.

 BG> And where does that leave ANYBODY who currently legally owns
 BG> pistols, ALL of which are self-loading by their very nature ?

  It does not apply to pistols. Christ! NSW is about to order the
police Glocks to replace their Smith & Wesson revolvers.

 BG> Oh well, looks like there'll be no more Olympic gold medals
 BG> from our ex-pistol shooters, I suppose. 

  Somehow, I don't see that as a great loss. Not that it applies
anyway.

 BL> And I'm not happy with paying shooters compensation, either. I
 BL> had a modem when Austel came along and no one paid me for it
 BL> when it was made illegal. All they did was slap a $20,000 fine
 BL> and tell me to get fucked if I got caught.

 BG> But you didn't represent around 11% of the voting population,
 BG> did you ? 

  All you need is another 40% and you could defeat a referendum... and 
11%, my arse. They're shooters' figures. The adult male population of 
Australia is 5.6 million, and you reckon 2 million of them are licensed
gun owners? What crap! 2% is probably closer ot the truth - 350,000.

  It's like poofters telling us that 10% of the population is queer... 
  
 BL> I didn't pay the ones with a collection of child pornography
 BL> and no one bought my CB radio or modem. Why are guns different?

 BG> Strange as it seems, I happen to agree with you here 100%. Of
 BG> course, the fact that I don't _legally_ own any self-loading
 BG> weapons might have something to do with my doing so too. 

  I don't think buying guns will make a rat's-arse of  difference.
The sane ones will turn in their guns anyway, and the loonies won't.

  We could run "dob in a gun owner" like Operation Noah. I'd expect 
that many wives would take the opportunity to get the guns out of the 
house.

 BG> Frankly, I think that everybody should wait six months, or at
 BG> least until the emotive aspect of this issue has abated.
 BG> Fucking knee-jerk politicians... 

  Yair - that's the gun-lobby line. I see that John Major is talking
about the same ban as Australia. At last there is some sanity in the
world. The plain fact remains that there is absoutely no need for an
SLR except by the Army and SWAT squads. At last we are getting rid of
the gun mentality. We need the American gun culture like we need an
extra dick.

Regards,
Bob
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

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