Australia -(Ammoland.com)- On February 9th, 2019, Australian police officers swarmed a man walking along a busy, coastal, pedestrian walkway in Brighton, Australia. Police took down the man because of reports that he was armed with a rifle.
In a video from 7 News Adelaide, you can see the toy gun next to a female officer’s boot. Use the tiles/bricks the officer is standing on for scale. Video link on facebook.com:
The toy appears to be about a foot long, less than one/third scale. No reasonable person could mistake it for an actual, functioning rifle.
Brighton is an upscale, urban, coastal suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria.
It is illegal in Victoria to own a replica or imitation firearm without a firearms license.
The following information is from the Victorian police website. The last update is given as 18 May, 2018. From police.vic.gov.au:
Differentiating between an imitation firearm, replica firearms, and other firearm paraphernalia and toys:
There are a wide variety of firearm-themed items available on the market aimed at children or firearm enthusiasts. Depending on the overall appearance and function of these items, some may be classified as a registrable firearm, a replica firearm or an imitation firearm. These require an authority to possess, carry or sell in the State of Victoria regardless of the intent of the manufacturer.
The information contained within this page and downloadable Quick Guide to Imitation, Toy & Other firearm paraphernalia has been published to assist you to recognise the distinguishing characteristics of an imitation firearm as opposed to a toy or other firearm paraphernalia to assist you to comply with Victorian laws in this area.
Generally, if an item cannot be mistaken for a working firearm by a reasonable person and does not have the function of a firearm, it will be treated as a toy firearm or other firearm-themed paraphernalia and can be owned without a licence or other authority.
However, items that have the appearance of a working firearm, even where they do not function as one, are classified as imitation firearms. As imitation firearms can cause public alarm, only people with a Chief Commissioner’s Weapons Approval or Governor in Council Exemption can possess, carry or offer them for sale in the State of Victoria.
Replica firearms are not the same as imitation firearms. They are working copies of an original firearm and anyone in possession of a replica must register it and be the holder of the appropriate firearms licence.
Not surprisingly, 7 News Adelaide gets the legal definition wrong. They reported it was not a rifle, but a replica. It is not a replica because it is too small and is not a working copy. It is not an imitation firearm, because it is too small.
The man was not arrested on a criminal charge. It was reported he was taken in for a mental health evaluation.
A citizen opined to the 7 News Adelaide reporter that:
“The public doesn’t know if it is real or not. The police have to assume that it is real.”
I disagree. If you are so ignorant about a technical matter, you probably should not be calling the equivalent of 911 about it.
Firearms have been successfully demonized in urban Australia, indeed, in much of the world. The demonization has been so complete that citizens feel no one can be trusted walking in a public area with a toy gun. Australian media railed about a slightly larger, obvious toy AK being carried by a child, in 2015.
A soldier, training for a military exercise, in uniform, was caught up in the hysteria in Australia for carrying a very crude mock-up of a rifle, that would be impossible for a reasonable person to mistake for a working firearm.
Much of the purpose is to make the private carry of firearms socially unacceptable. Australian crime has been exceptionally low for decades, both before and after their extreme gun laws.
In the United States, because of the Second Amendment, we are moving in the other direction. Open carry is becoming more and more acceptable. It was ruled as a core part of the Second Amendment in the Ninth Circuit, although the case as been appealed to the full Ninth Circuit, en banc.
I fear Australians, as with the English and Canadians, have allowed their traditional right to arms to be slowly and successfully legally ignored into nothingness.
As a consolation, the police in Australia were uniformly polite and easy to deal with when I was there, in 2017 and 2018.
As a foreigner, I earnestly worked at not breaking any laws.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Sheeple. They better hope no one ever decides to take over their country, but then again who would want it?
Good answer!
Do you really doubt china would take Australia if given half a chance?
What we have here is a bit of hysteria from the city folk here in Melbourne, they follow the comrade Andrews all the way, unfortunately here in Australia we do not have written in our constitution the right to bare arms, as you do in the USA, after the American revolution the Poms got a little worried that the same would happen here in Australia, so they put the clamps on frearm ownership, even when Australia finally became a self governing country, the constitution still did not have the right to bare arms, What the media do not let on… Read more »
Socialism, liberalism, communism, democrats–all the same. If you surrender your right and GOD given mandate to keep and bear arms, this will be coming to America. Even toy guns scare the politicians and police because they are afraid the people might revolt. When a government is destructive to those ends, it is in the right of the people to change or abolish it…Please tell me you recognize those words! Gun control is NOT about gun control–it is about people control, maybe even thought control. That is what happens when you surrender your rights for a little security. You wind up… Read more »
Does anyone see a similarity between: California vs the rest of the US, and the USA vs the rest of the world? … Go to the Down Under and get a boot jacked psychiatric evaluation for carrying a toy gun lol Trump is onto something, take the high speed rail away from California, and leave them stuck in traffic all day to leave us alone… What about all the people here in the US, who want to take away our toy soldiers/guns, violent themed anything, now anti 2A… Do you still remember what happened to Rosanne Barr, John Schnatter, and… Read more »
“The man was not arrested on a criminal charge. It was reported he was taken in for a mental health evaluation.”
I’m immediately reminded of the Soviet Union determining dissidents were “mentally ill” and shipping them off for treatment at mental health facilities . . . which bore a striking resemblance to Siberian gulags.
Just a note on this story, and no disrespect to the author, as I have enjoyed his articles in the past. But you have listed all the laws and by-laws for Victoria, but this incident took place in Adelaide, South Australia, a totally different state with their own gun laws. I am not sure on their requirements regarding replicas and toys but I am more than happy with what the cops did to this F)(#W!T roaming the streets waving anything around because all this does is trigger some LIBT4&D leftist feminist to jump on every form of media outlet and… Read more »
Crocodile Dundee would never be allowed to walk their streets now.
The key word is Reasonable. These morons cannot grasp reality. This stupidity is coming to a state near you.
how could they afford to divert people from the gun pop-tart patrol in the schools? oh sorry, that was in the US.
This is exactly what the progressive liberals want us to be like. No thought processes, just do as your commander says. How insanely stupid can one country be. That is seen here because they are still tied to England’s apron strings by thought process if nothing else. They might as well join the EU and become slaves rather than just acting like they are.
Australians have become a bunch of sissies, peeing their pants at the sight of a gun. I guess it’s still a penal colony for the Brits…
No real Aussies aren’t, trendy latte sipping morons living in the inner city are sissies at their mildest and an rabid wankers trying to force their version of the a reality on the rest of us at their worst. The cops look like a bunch of numpties and the idiots they found for they sound bite look even more stupid. Worse yet firearms violence in Australia is at its lowest ever, continuing the downward trend from the 90’s before law abiding people had their legally owned firearms stolen by the government. Unfortunately smugness and a feeling of self-entitlement has been… Read more »
MB maybe you should get your facts straight before calling us pussies. I get your anger and frustration. Being a gun owner myself and having a licence and the privalige to shoot is where im coming from. We dont have a 2A to fall back on. Our country never fought a civil war or was established on a war. The people here fear guns as the criminals are the ones that get the illegal firearms from the black market. Ive lived in the states and i understand your feeling towards guns. Personally i think we should all carry. However, in… Read more »
@Manny Sorry, no edit function, should read Australians ” cops “have become a bunch of sissies. ( I never said “pussies” maybe sissies doesn’t translate).. We feel for the people who want to live free, but you guys really need to get your LEO overlords in order, because it appears, you guys are still prisoners in your own country. Maybe a civil war is what you need, GB too, they are at the point the police are afraid of butter knives.
I agree with you MB the cops do need more training and i do understand your point of view. However, we dont have the shooters alot in parliment or congress as USA does. We have enough to keep fighting for our privalige to own and shoot or hunt. The farm is the way to go here then all is good. Alot if city dewllers are ignorant and are not educated. We dont blame them and we understand the ignorance both from the cops and the general public.
I think they should have used more than three cops for someone that dangerous. It is pretty obvious he was heading towards a tiny school.
I didn’t know that Aussies were that stupid when it came to toys.
See, that was your first mistake, underestimating the stupidity of not not only the Aussie authorities but also the idiots that were interviewed who not only reacted like a bunch of sheep but would have been far better off it they’d just stood there and gone baaaaa, baaaaa.
This is where watch dog and all the progressive socialists want America to go.
So if i buy a toy gun for my grandson and walk home, the police are going to throw me to the ground, cuff me and take me to jail? What the hell is this world coming to? Have we become so scared that we can’t have a toy? I remember playing cops and robbers as a kid. My grandson can’t do that as a 8 year old?
Evidently, they would then take you for a psychiatric evaluation because only a psychopath would let a kid have a toy EVIL GUN!
If you are stupid enough to display and wave a weapon around out in public like this perp did! I have always believed in our American right to bear arms. However, if the incredibly stupid, ignorant, Ted Nuggets types of this country continue to go off the deep end, then expect to have more and more gun control. You all are screwing it up for peaceful law abiding citizens. Get it together!
A 12 inch rifle, even my dogs know the difference. I’ve been wanting to visit the great down under, until now. I think I’ll just stay here and drink.
You have always believed in the right to keep and bear arms, but displaying a weapon in public is stupid? COGNITIVE DISSIDENCE/ STOCKHOLM SYNDROME!
That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve heard all month. People’s ignorance is no reason to do what the cops did to the guy. The police look like idiots.
While open carry is a bad tactical choice, it gets the people used to seeing guns in public.
If people see open carry in Walmart, in the streets and the mall, then we will not see this kind of hysteria in the states.
That is one good reason for advocating for legal open carry.
Thank goodness they caught him. He might have escalated to throwing Legos.
Have you ever stepped on a lego? They should be banned! Only properly trained government agents should possess blocks.
they already do. Find their necks. Their blocks are sitting directly above their necks.
clowns really doing their lot for public safety
They arrived in chains and wear them still.
To Australian mates from your Texas buddy, I can not argue with Roy D.
Sorry jack but no chains here just us Aussies. If you need to vent thats good. We dont have a 2a so we dont have any rights to firearns its a privaliage that can be taken away. I dont agree with alot of the politicly correct S@#T. Our police are not the best at identifing firearms as they dont shoot enough and are strangled by our laws basicly they are taught politically correct BS and couldnt idenrify am m4 from a draganoff. But hey its what we have. The convict in chains is a great comment how about the yank… Read more »
Peeps, I doubt any of us was there and witnessed how the “scale model” was being presented to the public.
Being that most of the AU citizenry have no hands on experience with firearms, it is reasonable that a “scale model” could be mistaken as real.
Secondly, lets consider that the carrier is a skilled machinist.
Given the size of the artifact, I can see it effectively capable of being .22, .380, 9mm, or any other semi-auto caliber.
Having said this, how would you feel about something that could be a firearm being pointed at you ?
It would appear that you are assuming a lot hype to promote a lot of B.S.
As a “skilled machinist” I could make a gun look like just about ANYTHING: cell phone, camera, lego project. What if I point those things at you? Stockholm Syndrome!!!!
these stupid people deserve all the hell that their asshole government can rein down on them!
Australia…..Sounds like a place where all liberal democraps should immigrate to. And leave Americia to the men that defended it!
Good job by law enforcement! I just hope that he got thrown down really really hard on the concrete, scraped around good, and clinched down on those cuffs. A stupid human being.
GWD braying like an ass for a toy takedown? GWD you’ll always be good at polishing jack boots.
Get Out, well put and enough said. Thank you