A lot of the problems in the US would be solved if they started doing things for people instead of political points or money from donors. Our people are regularly being driven to desperation and despair by things over which they have little control.

Or just had officials that could use common sense

I hope this isn't an anti-gun post. :P

"Never let a crisis go to waste". xD Yea, thats what terrorism does, it lets the government take away your rights. Who knows, they could have released a criminally insane person and given him a gun to force change. I'm not saying it happened, but its entirely possible. You say "We can't change things without a crisis" and then suddenly the crisis you need happens, suspicious!

I am in favor of people having to register to a list showing they own a gun, and be required to have training and competency. However I don't want guns taken away, or anything that would make the average citizen defenseless. I am always skeptical of things that force a change that the government wants too.

Don't assume I'm a conspiracy theorist just cause I made a comment that sounds like a conspiracy. :P Its a potential thing, not something I think happened.

So that was kind of what the video pointed out that it had to be registered and had to have a legitimate reason as to why you want to own it.

But it should be noted that even before the Revolutionary War the states had documented census of gun ownership should a militia be needed and those sorts of census continued on after the war as well. So the Second Amendment was made so that ownership was explicitly for the purpose of raising a well trained militia when the need for one arose, not for private ownership or sport use. But that when those people were called upon they would bring their own weapons to defend the state, the government, because most of the firearms used during the war were state owned and inventory was carefully counted before and after, and we have the historical records to prove that is what was meant when the Second Amendment was written.

It wasn't until a Supreme Court verdict that it was interpreted to give the right for lawful private ownership, which would still coincide with the laws Australia enacted as a means of actually keeping records of ownership which was something that had been done at the time the Second Amendment was written and ratified. Being this was before there was a federal military and that local governments were mostly responsible for maintaining a collective ownership and training of arms for military use to again defend the country not be vigilantes.

I would disagree with how that piece starts out. Guns were never overly popular in Oz. Yes, they were around, but far from everyone had them. Wasn't really until after WWI and then WWII that they became overly popular. Most of the soldiers kept their rifles, but they were far from new tech, even then. A lot of families ended up with grandpa's 303 in the cupboard. (My grandmother had a very awesome smuggler's 22)

Anyway, as an Aussie I'm happy with what happened here. One of the weird things I have noticed was as a kid we'd go camping or fishing, pull up at almost any spot out in the bush and I'd wander around collecting shell casings. Doesn't happen now, very rare to go somewhere and find some shells and if you do, chances are they're going to be old ones.

One of the other things you rarely see is one of the more rabid gun enthusiasts, prior to the buyback and increased restrictions he was threatening the world would end. Someone tracked him down about five years later and asked him what he thought. He replied with, "Actually, I don't really notice it. I lost some of my guns, but I didn't use them that often anyway. I still have guns and still go shooting, I just have to keep them in a safer environment now." I'm always amazed that doesn't get more air time.

I know quite a few people with guns, they still go shooting and think the restrictions are reasonable and not overly onerous, but at the same time, there is always going to be the vocal minority who complain they should be able to own and shoot anything they like, but here in Oz, they can't.

Well I think Wendover made it a point to say that it was mostly rural people who had them for the longest of time as a means to keeping wild animals of the farms and etc.

For me, even in the US, I never cared people had them, I have always cared more about people knowing how to use them and use them safely. But also for people who are owning them to have effectively some sort of permit plus background checks plus any change of ownership to be recorded. You have to register papers for your car, a tool to get from point A to B, but the fact you could just sell your firearm privately always bothered me.

Some people mentioned locking down schools as a means to protecting kids and my response to that has been, rather than turning schools into prison maybe we should address the issue of how these people are coming into ownership of these weapons and what we can do to curb the use of firearms for violent crime and stop the problem at it's source rather than putting a bandaid on it.

Oh, I agree. I work on a pastoral station. It's 1338 square miles, so big and remote. It's destocked currently, but still has cattle on it. Lots of kangaroos, camels, wild dogs. Basically a range of big things which may nee to be put down humanely. The manager can get a gun, no problem. Current problem is the group that owns the lease now is a government department which would mean they'd have a gun on their property and wow has that generated the paperwork... In the mean time, we're all frantically hoping we don't hit something with the cars.

yes, the government likes it paperwork, cannot have anything undocumented going on.