U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- In Australia, the various governments are using the coronavirus emergency to stop sales of firearms. One of the stated purposes of those who plotted to disarm Australians was to reduce the number of Australians who had guns. That was unsuccessful. More people have guns in Australia today than before the extreme gun laws were put in place in 1997. The thinking that one purpose of gun laws is to reduce the number of people with guns continues.
During the current emergency, on 31 March, the Daily Mail quoted the national police minister. From dailymail.co.uk:
Police Minister Lisa Neville said at a press conference on Tuesday the number of people attempting to access firearms and ammunition had doubled.
The minister and the National Cabinet decided to pause the sales of firearms and ammunition for sporting or recreational purposes.
They fear an increased amount of weapons on the street would be dangerous as tensions rise and firearms may be stockpiled or accessed by criminals.
There is no suggestion the people who desired firearms were not obeying the law and following the intensely bureaucratic and slow process by which a person is grudgingly allowed to own a firearm in Australia, under tightly controlled conditions. The government simply did not like the idea that more people were acquiring firearms.
The several different Australian states each approached the situation of the coronavirus a bit differently. In Queensland, gunshops and gunsmiths were labeled “non-essential”. From health.qld.gov.au:
PART 1 – DIRECTION – NON-ESSENTIAL BUSINESS, ACTIVITY, OR UNDERTAKING
- These directions apply from the time of publication until the end of the declared public health emergency, unless they are revoked or replaced.
- A person who owns, controls or operates a non-essential business, activity, or undertaking in the State of Queensland, including operating at a private residence, must not operate the business, activity or undertaking during the period specified in paragraph 5, subject to the exceptions set out in Column 2 of the Definitions table at paragraph 7.
(snip) In the list of non-essential businesses are gunsmiths and gunshops:
-
-
-
-
- Licensed armourers and licensed dealers as defined under the
Weapons Act 1990
-
-
-
Most of the businesses listed as non-essential have exceptions for a lower level of activity. For example, restaurants are allowed to do takeaway and home delivery. Hair dressers and barbershops are allowed to operate with no more than one person per four square meters. Golf clubs are allowed to operate outdoor activities with social distancing.
There are *no* exceptions listed for gun shops and gunsmiths. The various levels of the Australian government have made it clear the right of Englishmen to Arms has been destroyed by the English and Australian ruling elites. In the current crises, there was no consultation with shooters. From abc.net.au:
Consultation lacking, pest controller says
Ms Ridge described the ruling as knee-jerk and said the Government had failed to consult the pest control sector.
“We heard whispers of it on Saturday — yesterday we confirmed it through emails and phone calls,” she said.
The Australian state of Victoria echoed the reason for shutting down gunshops and gunsmiths was the demand figures. From 7news.com.au:
Victoria has announced new enforcements following the National Cabinet’s decision to put a temporary ban on additional access to firearms and ammunition across the country.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said the state had seen “a doubling of attempts to access firearms – category A and B – and also of ammunition” in the past week.
“We are concerned by those figures,” she told media on Tuesday.
Australia is a mostly socialist country today. It is only a few decades from when they had much more freedom with firearms than they do today. Up until the middle 1980s, promoting gun control beyond handguns was seen as the “third rail” of Australian politics. It was a good way to end your career.
Now, suggesting that access to guns is a good thing, is a way to be mocked by the national Australian media.
On a recent conversation with a friend in New South Wales, I asked him about the situation. He confirmed the lockdown on gun stores and gunsmiths. He added this little bit of information. Anyone caught traveling who did not have a satisfactory “essential purpose” was subject to a $1,000 fine. When my friend and his family emigrated to Australia in 1964, if you wanted a rifle and ammunition, you walked into the store with cash and walked out with the rifle and ammunition.
Australia has a written constitution. It does not have a written bill of rights.
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 retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Tyranny can be a contagious thing for those who crave authority and slave ownership. Tyranny is deadlier than the virus that sweeps the earth at this time. Tyranny is government protecting itself and not the people it governs. Most of the time when people see trouble coming, they arm themselves against it. That is human nature. This is not something evil, it’s the preservation of life and EVERYBODY has that RIGHT. There is every possibility for severe civil unrest in the very near future throughout the entire world. These people are doing nothing wrong in arming up against it. When… Read more »
Once again you are absolutely correct in you statement Bill. Tyranny is certainly more deadly then the corona virus however so many Americans today do not know or understand that. During the twentieth century guns were confiscated throughout Europe and Asia and following that confiscation hundred of millions of law abiding citizens (“over” a hundred seventy million NOT COUNTING THE WARS) were murdered by their own governments. That fact however is; it is no longer taught in our public schools and therefore millions are ignorant of the facts of what happened during that bloody period and could happen again right… Read more »
I agree with DB’s initial paragraph. leftists in Australia like America and around the world do not mind restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens, but then provide leniency to criminals. and like all leftists they think themselves erudite when they deny common sense, logic and data. no amount of statistics are enough for leftists to change their mind. check out the everytown memo sent out earlier this week, total lies and bovine excrement.
firearms are inanimate objects that require human interaction to function whether for good or evil. it is the person behind the object that caused harm.
UNless we remain vigilaint and stay in the fight, hither go we Yanks. HOW many US States have tried valiantly to shut down gun sales “in thiis time”? How many knuckled and relented when lawsuits were filed to halt that? How many conitnue to hold out, denying their residents their God’given right to arms? And how many more WOULD except for the certainly they too would find their namesin the second part of the title of some new lawsuit (Govenor Jay Inslee of Washington State, I am looking at YOU…..)
Hmmm.. Did our Creator exempt Australia from the right to self defense? Guess I missed that scripture in our instructional manual. Aussies have had that right removed because they said….OK. No law controls any man unless he chooses to be controlled by such. Americans need to manage our politicians’ expectations that attempting to usurp that right will carry severe consequences for them personally.
The Australian military serving in Vietnam had superior performance because, as armed civilians, they all knew how to shoot long before they enlisted . I wonder how the Australian military would perform today?
It seems there are many people in this country as well as Australia who think all there is to taking the guns away from law abiding citizens is passing a law saying so. Not so fast. Many many law abiding citizens here in the United States (I can not speak for Australians) will not comply to such laws. I know I personally will NOT. Here in the United States of America two revolutionary wars were begun by a resident power attempting to take Americans guns. The revolutionary war with the Brits and in Texas the revolutionary war with Mexico. Guns… Read more »
@AZ – Agree with your entire post, except for your word choice in “law abiding citizens”. In accordance with your statement of how many outlaws they would create, I now refer to honest-upstanding members of society. If you are a good person, you are a good person regardless of legal nuances. Morals are absolute while laws are simply an obstacle. When they disagree, there is no question which to obey. Would also add that legal disobedience is freeing. Once one decides to disobey one law, importance of others diminishes. Take care to remain moral and discrete. Government’s power derives from… Read more »
@Jacob – Congratulations.
I obviously missed something in your prior posts. Thought you were going to check “No” on 4473 – which was what concerned me. Glad you will be legally able to carry and hope you can do so responsibly. That is of course a hope I hold for all firearms carriers, legal or otherwise.
May you remain an honest and upstanding member of society. Remember that morals are absolute, while laws are just a speed bump.
Never let a good crisis go to waste! Nothing like hearing the roaringly loud will of the people and doing the exact Opposite
Jacob, it is good news that you were able to navigate the bad laws on firearm ownership. It wasn’t until the 1938 FFA that felons were disbarred their Natural Right to keep and bear arms. If a person is too dangerous to be trusted with a firearm, that person is too dangerous to release out into the general public.
Unfortunately, people have been led astray and do not question “laws”, as they have been taught that our government rules over us, not that government is granted the authority to *govern* us by consent of the governed.