From: "John Hurst", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This is very interesting despite what we hear from other sources. The
writer is a Tasmanian
Officer who asks anonymity.
Joe
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I was fascinated reading the Canadian response to gun
registration. I must admit to having favoured gun
registration until I witnessed the extraordinary and to my
mind undemocratic gun grab by the present Australian
Government in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre here in
Tas.
Yes the murder of 35 unarmed innocents is tragic, but as
one of the park rangers was heard to say in the aftermath;
"If the "f******g govt had permitted us to continue carrying
weapons instead of trying to portray a squeaky clean crime
free environment to the tourists maybe we could have
stopped this mad man." I agree 100% with that Park Officer.
They have always been armed and carry out quite often
dangerous joint operations with police. They were effectively
disarmed some years ago by a system with its head buried in
the sand, the very same system advocated disarming police
officers also but thank God our union was strong enough to
resist the liberals.
Anyway, things have at last settled into a more
realistic view with respect to present day gun ownership. The
Federal Govt buy back scheme cost the taxpayers billions of
dollars, armed hold-ups of security vans carrying "bought
back" weapons to disposal areas netted criminals an
arsenal they would under normal circumstances have only
dreamt of. Naturally, many so called "destroyed" firearms
have been turning up at armed robberies and murder scenes.
The fatal flaw with the government destruction policy was,
they removed responsibility from the police to oversee it
and handed it to private security firms for fear of a
public backlash on an already over indulgence of tax payers
money. Naturally, some of the private companies don't have
the necessary stops and checks in place to guarantee 100%
honesty.
After all of the above, the true figures in Australia
with respect to violent crime is about what it was prior
to the buy back. Naturally the gun reformists say violence
is down and therefore it was a good thing and the other side
claim increased incidents of gun related crime that
leaves people who could previously defend themselves
defenceless. Both sides have some merit, the reason for the
"decrease" in murder rate is simple. We have not had another
Port Arthur, if we did and 35 lives were lost the figures
would be static. On the other hand, the people who are
now "defenceless", in the main are bank staff. All banks
had to hand in their own protective weapons, this netted the
government some several hundred hand guns. What they don't
say is, bank staff have not been permitted to use a firearm
for over 20 years.
They were simply wrapped in grease paper and kept in the
safe. Those hand guns ended up being given to the Papua New
Guinea Police Service as part of our UN charter to "civilise"
the country. Whatever the heck that means.
Last time I was there it was more civilised than Sydney,
unless you happened to get on the wrong side of "The Rascals"
in Port Moresby. It was an interesting secondment for six months
and one I used to recommend to my classes at the Academy. I
think it is important for a police officer to be as culturally
aware as possible and secondment to a foreign Police Service
is perhaps the best way to get it. We are now sending officers to East
Timor, if it was 10 years ago my name would have been on the list.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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