Results of an intrusive national registration scheme
These guns and air rifles are being haled as a find of a massive cache of private guns in Moonford, Australia, a tiny farming community with virtually no crime. That is, there was no crime there before the National Australian government created it with the intrusive "gun control" law they passed, taking advantage of the act of a madman and the emotional response pushed by their national media. All guns must be registered. All guns must be locked up. All guns are subject to inspection at virtually any time. When I considered a trip to Australia a few years ago, I learned that even spear guns and blowguns are subject to restrictions. It is chilling confirmation that gun registration is gun confiscation.
The "crime" here would not be any crime at all in the vast majority of the United States, and would not have been a crime in much of Australia before 1996. Notice that in the picture the "illegal guns" include pellet guns, single shot .22 rifles, antique shotguns, and numerous bolt action hunting rifles. A few of the firearms that were found might be restricted in the United States.
The three men charged, a 69 year old father and two sons, aged 46 and 42, were licensed to have 71 firearms, and all those firearms are included in the 328 gun seizure. Because they are licensed to have guns, it is clear that they are not career criminals. It is not as if they can shoot more than maybe two guns at once. But because the guns *are not registered* they are all subject to being confiscated. Australia has done what the American anti-freedom advocates want: to make any possession of any gun not registered to the state a crime. All the guns in the country are then subject to seizure by the state at any time the state either 1)finds them (for those not registered) or 2)desires to take them (those already registered). The seizure of the guns included 4.2 tons of ammunition. Total value is likely to be hundreds of thousands of dollars. I wonder if Australian law will include confiscating the 2,000 acre farm.
There is no credible evidence that the strict gun control laws in Australia have decreased crime or suicides. For every study that claims they have, there is at least as credible of a study to show they have not. What is clear is the Prime Minister, John Howard, hated people having access to firearms, and that he would do anything to restrict and ban them. From Wikipedia:
Until 1996, the federal government had little role in firearms law. Following the Port Arthur massacre, the Howard Government (1996–2007), with strong media and public support, introduced uniform gun laws with the cooperation of all the states, brought about through threats to Commonwealth funding arrangements (bold added). The then Prime Minister John Howard frequently referred to the USA to explain his opposition to civilian firearms ownership and use in Australia, stating that he did not want Australia to go "down the American path".[53][54][55] In one interview on Sydney radio station 2GB he said, "We will find any means we can to further restrict them because I hate guns... ordinary citizens should not have weapons. We do not want the American disease imported into Australia."It is notable that the Federal Government used financial extortion to obtain the cooperation of the states. It is remarkably similar to what we have seen in the United States. Australia should serve as an object lesson to Americans. Their media and government so despised guns in private hands that they were quite willing to use "all means" to bring about the nationalization of the gun laws Australia now suffers under. The vast majority of Australians live in coastal cities and know only what they are told by the media about guns. Their ignorance has cost their country cousins much time, treasure, and police intrusion into their lives.
Fortunately, the United States can learn from Australia's experience. We have far more activists who have developed strong networks to oppose these ill considered laws. Our urban populations are learning the truth about citizen disarmament laws. Australia's developing network of activists was simply overwhelmed by the combined media and government forces that conspired against them.
©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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Dean Weingarten's article on registration leading to confiscation is essentially correct except that NAZI Germany did allow unregistered long arms for German citizens(Jews and foreigners were given few rights). PRC(China) does allow pellet guns,long and pistol crossbows as well as electric stun guns. In Australia even a pellet gun requires "A" licence while long crossbow "M" licence. In 2012 the PRC destroyed 1.3M illegal longarms.
In Oz, 25 years ago the individual states controlled their own gun laws with Tasmania even allowing machine guns. It was at this time a NSW politician stated "it's going to take a mass murder in Tasmania to get national gun laws".
Less than a decade later it happened.
In Queensland in 1996 the LNP government gave in to the feds and as a result stayed out of power 1998-2012. Now that they are back in they've atrted up gain encouraging Australians to fink on their neighbours. The "3-2-1 dob in illegal guns" campaign can be viewed on Youtube. Media commentators like David Koch openly encourage us to turn in our "uncles and grandfathers".
National registration also brings about the good gun vs bad gun debate with the end result...all guns are bad. When all guns are on the books then they can be eliminated one group at a time: full-auto,assault rifles,small pistols then mag capacity then ammo restrictions. Currently, Class A & B licences are $150 for 5years and the req'd club membership
costs $80/year. The volume of red tape puts many people off.
Opposition to the 1996 national registration scheme received very little media coverage. That year witnessed a massive amount of arms dealing primarily in semi-auto rifles, magazines and ammunition as this would be the last opportunity to stock up. The farming family in Moonford,QLD would have been stockpiling for years. Their downfall came when they moved to a rental property over a year ago and the fact that they had 71 firearms on the books. This volume raised a flag.
Currently in Australia there are 4 types of gun owners:
1)The law abiding that turned in all semi-autos and registered even their pellet guns. There are some other licences that allow pump shotguns and 22lr semi-autos but they are difficult to obtain.
2)Many,many owners buried their M1 carbines and SKS and purchased the equivalent bolt action. This allowed them to still buy ammo and get in some range time. The Moonford family did this.
3)Quite a few refused to be part of the scheme and went underground.
They are off the list but must use their arms covertly and resupply is a problem.
4)The real career criminals don't care about any laws and obtain weapons by any means including stealing them from police stations.
Last year after 3 weeks on parole one wielded a pistol in the CBD in Brisbane.
America in the past has tried to ban alcohol, impose a national 55mph speed limit and a national 21 yr drinking age. Australia failed because it's state gov't's failed. The 2 main parties and the media have their own agenda. If you want freedom make sure that your local politician works for YOU.
Gabriel Dumont
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