Gun Laws in USA.

[tipper]

No one on safooty booney, but in the us it is the blame for nearly all these types of incidents. Access to guns, mental health and religion seems to be the forgotten element.

at teh moment they arent ignoring access to guns. there have been many people speaking out over there about gun control. even polititians here are calling for further tightening of gun laws. how they can draw that link ill never know.

i do agree that they are ignoring mental health completely. it is far and away the major cause of this and other events. normal people, even with an unlimited access to guns, just wouldnt do this

[CENTURION]

this is a joke, I have to re-apply for my real estate licence annually! If my licence lapses by any more than 6 months, I have to do a police crime prevention check. Why can't strict rules such as these be imposed on people who want to own firearms?

[whufc]

Problem is the most likely to use guns in an illegal way aren't to worried about applying for licenses etc etc

Guns are easier to get than pills these days!

[tipper]

this is a joke, I have to re-apply for my real estate licence annually! If my licence lapses by any more than 6 months, I have to do a police crime prevention check. Why can't strict rules such as these be imposed on people who want to own firearms?

there are strict rules for those that want to own guns legally. however as Whufc stated, those that want them to shoot at other people generally arent worried about a little thing like a licence.

to obtain a licnece an application form must be submitted to a police station with 100 points of id, before you can even sit the safety course. there is a legislated month long wait for that to be approved. once done there is a wait for an opening in the firearms safety course (usually two or three months), once passed there is a minimum month long wait to be issued the paperwork (once again legislated) so you can go get your photo taken. once you have that you an go apply to purchase a gun. fill in the permit to aquire, wait at least a month (legislated) for your first gun of a class, once approved go get it, but make sure you have safe storage installed before you pick it up.

handgun licences are only able to be renewed annually (cat a and b class up to 5 years, not sure on cat c or d but i suspect it is the same as handguns), and if let lapse by even a day the owner will have their firearms confiscated, they will be fined, and could even be locked up. they must be a member of an approved pistol club and they must undertake a minimum number of registered competitive shoots per year (it varies with how many handguns they have and what types), if they dont meet the criteria, they lose their licence and guns etc.

licenced gun owners must have safe storage, which sapol can ask to inspect at any time of the day or night, they just rock up to your house and demand to be let in (remember you havent done anything wrong) ammunition must be locked up seperately to the guns (including air rifle pellets, which have no gunpowder, or any other type of propellant\explosive) and there are limits on how much ammo can be stored at one time.

why would a crim bother with any of that process when they can just get an illegal gun and start shooting stuff? it isnt the licenced owners you have to worry about, they are the most law abiding people in the country.

[therisingblues]

You've raised some good points there Tipper. But finally, even a lessening of massacres must be much more preferable if the cost is a ban on guns. So far there have been 0 massacres in Oz since restrictions were brought in,

How many deaths constitute a massacre?
Gun laws didnt stop the guy at Hectorville

Childers arson killed how many? That was in 2000 from memory. Crazy people will find a way to do these things, whether they can get guns or not.

I know that is still only a couple of examples, but Australia never had the (seemingly) regular occurrences like other countries do anyway.

edited to add: childers was 15 dead.

Jim, apparently Hectorville was a handgun. If that guy had access to the sort of junk Bryant had then there may have been many more than 2 dead 5 injured.
Tipper, I don't see why we should loosen up our gun laws just because there are other ways to kill en masse.

[gadj1976]

Wont bringing in strict laws drive the guns underground in the US, causing more issues?

[tipper]

You've raised some good points there Tipper. But finally, even a lessening of massacres must be much more preferable if the cost is a ban on guns. So far there have been 0 massacres in Oz since restrictions were brought in,

How many deaths constitute a massacre?
Gun laws didnt stop the guy at Hectorville

Childers arson killed how many? That was in 2000 from memory. Crazy people will find a way to do these things, whether they can get guns or not.

I know that is still only a couple of examples, but Australia never had the (seemingly) regular occurrences like other countries do anyway.

edited to add: childers was 15 dead.

Jim, apparently Hectorville was a handgun. If that guy had access to the sort of junk Bryant had then there may have been many more than 2 dead 5 injured.
Tipper, I don't see why we should loosen up our gun laws just because there are other ways to kill en masse.

you realise that some handguns do fire with every pull of the trigger, just like the guns bryant had?

i am not suggesting that at all. i am just pointing out that guns arent the problem. mental health is the problem. Bryant shouldnt have had the access he did. he wasnt licenced, and never had been. there was never a gun registry in tassie back then. the same thing cannot happen any more. dealers cannot sell a gun to soemone that does not have a permit to aquire stamped by firearms branch.

and i am not trying to suggest we revert back to what the laws were pre 1996. what i am suggesting, is that if someone proves that they are a sane, law abiding member of society, why shouldnt they have access to a greater variety of firearms than is available now?

have you ever fired a gun? it is actually fun. it is also challenging, and there is definitely a sense of achievement when you can see yourself improving with practice. firing off several rounds quickly is also fun. there exists competitions overseas for semi auto marksmanship. the competitions used to exist here also. i dont see why they shouldnt again. with the improvements that have been made here in this country, limiting access to those that shouldnt have it, why couldnt things be changed?

[dedja]

If I was an Jihadist, I'd just open as many guns shops as I could in the US and watch the faarkers wipe themselves out ...

[Dog_ger]

If I was an Jihadist, I'd just open as many guns shops as I could in the US and watch the faarkers wipe themselves out ...

Give a AK-47 to your neighbour for X-Mas....

[therisingblues]

you realise that some handguns do fire with every pull of the trigger, just like the guns bryant had?

i am not suggesting that at all. i am just pointing out that guns arent the problem. mental health is the problem. Bryant shouldnt have had the access he did. he wasnt licenced, and never had been. there was never a gun registry in tassie back then. the same thing cannot happen any more. dealers cannot sell a gun to soemone that does not have a permit to aquire stamped by firearms branch.

and i am not trying to suggest we revert back to what the laws were pre 1996. what i am suggesting, is that if someone proves that they are a sane, law abiding member of society, why shouldnt they have access to a greater variety of firearms than is available now?

have you ever fired a gun? it is actually fun. it is also challenging, and there is definitely a sense of achievement when you can see yourself improving with practice. firing off several rounds quickly is also fun. there exists competitions overseas for semi auto marksmanship. the competitions used to exist here also. i dont see why they shouldnt again. with the improvements that have been made here in this country, limiting access to those that shouldnt have it, why couldnt things be changed?

I know some handguns fire with each pull of the trigger. Not sure how they compare to Bryant's gear, I'd assumed his were not just semi autos but had an easy trigger action. I'm led to believe that semi auto rifles are a more dangerous weapon. Happy to be corrected though, you obviously know a great deal more about guns than I do.
Yes, I have fired a gun. When I was a teenager I went to a rifle range with a couple of members. I fired off about 6 bullets from a revolver. The gun was heavy in my hands and had a massive kick when I fired it. I've had experience in different forms of archery, very little, but I know the pleasure of aiming and shooting straight. I also understand your point about shooting quickly. But if a handgun is just as quick as a semi auto, couldn't you be satisfied with just that?

[The Sleeping Giant]

Guns are the problem.

[Psyber]

Bugger guns.
Maybe I'll just build my own nuclear deterrent...

[smac]

NRA solution sounds a lot like the storyline from Kindergarten Cop. They're a deluded bunch.

[Bully]

umm wasnt it that the shooter at the school wasnt licensed either, yet had access to his mothers guns, which included the shooting of her? Saying someone is insane and they cant have a weapon doesnt prevent this incident from ever happening...

maybe stop making guns all together, that i would think would help the world over and stop all this violence around the whole world and wars,. running from a stick with a nail in it is much more easier then running from someone with a gun

[Psyber]

umm wasnt it that the shooter at the school wasnt licensed either, yet had access to his mothers guns, which included the shooting of her? Saying someone is insane and they cant have a weapon doesnt prevent this incident from ever happening...

maybe stop making guns all together, that i would think would help the world over and stop all this violence around the whole world and wars,. running from a stick with a nail in it is much more easier then running from someone with a gun

As long as guns are commonplace people who couldn't get a licence have access to guns owned by family members or people they know as this guy did. Our legislation that requires a good reason to have guns, and secure storage as well, makes sense.

It is, however, true that professional crims, and their acquaintances, can still get illegal guns easily if they want them.

As for ceasing to make guns, well there are plenty of people who can make them themselves in the underworld.
I think I could with a little research and access to the tools - just as I could the nuclear deterrent I joked about above - in fact I'm more confident of that.

[Gozu]

According to the NRA the solution is more guns!

http://www.smh.com.au/world/nra-calls-f ... 2bs8t.html

The fact any politician pays attention to these lunatics says it all about the US.

[dedja]

[RustyCage]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/obama-vows-action-after-online-petition/story-e6frea6u-1226542151230

Huffington Post lists the 100 shot dead in week since Sandy Hook as NRA calls for armed cops in every school

IN a shocking expose of gun violence in America, The Huffington Post has compiled a list of every US shooting death since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre on December 14.

That act of violence claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 innocent children, at a school in Connecticut.

The Huffington Post reports that the night after Sandy Hook, a gunman pulled behind a car in Kansas City and opened fire, striking a 4-year-old boy in the head.

"He was innocent and he was just lifeless," a bystander said. "All my life I’ve never seen nothing so devastating."

This week doctors declared the boy brain dead.

In the week following the Sandy Hook massacre, bodies were found inside a vacant house, at a car wash, and in a corner store. They were also discovered on a bike trail, in a backyard, inside the front office of a motel, and in a Chevy pickup, the website reports. All of the bodies had one thing in common: they died from gunshots wounds.

The Huffington Post spent this week tracking gun-related homicides and accidents throughout the US, and logged more than 100 from Google and Nexis searches. It says there were more than twice that many homicides alone in an average week in 2010.

The deaths included murder-suicides, and ranged from babies through to grandparents.

On Saturday afternoon, a 3-year-old in Oklahoma died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a gun he found inside his aunt and uncle's house. His uncle is an Oklahoma state trooper.

"Nobody should have to go through something like that," a resident said.

Paul Sampleton Jr., 14, was bound and shot in his Georgia townhome on Wednesday afternoon. His father found him in the kitchen. Police suspect a robbery motive, the website reports.

"He was smiling, listening to music," a friend told a local reporter. "He got on his bus, I got on mine. We were all happy."

The list goes on.

[Q.]

"In the week following the Sandy Hook massacre, bodies were found inside a vacant house, at a car wash, and in a corner store. They were also discovered on a bike trail, in a backyard, inside the front office of a motel, and in a Chevy pickup, the website reports. All of the bodies had one thing in common: they died from gunshots wounds."

All found on the set of Sons of Anarchy.

[Dutchy]

It wasnt that long ago Bank Managers had a gun in their top draw to fight back in case of a robbery, still remember my Dad having target practice with it in the backyard with his staff.

Now talk of armed guards in each school? What happens if he/she gets shot first?