Australia's Example for Controlling Guns

[ms maggie]

What do you think? Because something seems to work on a small, homogenous sample doesn't mean it works on a vastly larger heterogenous one. I've see comparisons to Australia, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, even Israel and not a one of them is meaningful when compared to the US. Plus, Australia largely confiscated guns, something that will never happen here.

Homogenous? Hardly.

Although the majority of the population are Australian born, more than 50% of Australians identified with an ancestry other than Australian in the 2006 Census. About 2% of Australians come from Indigenous backgrounds and about 41% have at least one parent who has born overseas. 22% of the population were born in another country. Of the overseas born, the major countries of birth are England, New Zealand and China. About 14% of Australians were born in non-English speaking countries[1]. In all, Australians come from over 200 birthplaces.

Collectively, Australians speak over 200 languages. Languages other than English are spoken by about 16% of the population with about 56,000 people speaking an Indigenous language. Other than English, the most common languages spoken today are Chinese, Italian, Greek and Arabic. There are over 50 Indigenous languages and Australian creoles actively spoken[2] by Australians.

The major religion in Australia is Christianity with about 64% of the population identifying as Christian. This group comprises over 70 different Christian denominations with the major denominations being Catholic; Anglican; Uniting Church; Presbyterian and Reformed; and Eastern Orthodox. Other major religions represented in Australia today include Buddhism (2.1% of the population), Islam (1.7%), Hinduism (0.8%) and Judaism (0.5%). About 5,400 Australians practise Aboriginal traditional religions. About 19% of Australians have no religion.

[Contumacious]

You mean like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? I thought we were talking about the Constitution?

We be talking about the Constitution.

.

[veritas]

Homogenous? Hardly.

It's still more homogenous than the US and a lot smaller. However, all that still ignores the obvious point which is that none of the policies these places have imposed will happen here nor could they work even if they were. We have to accept that guns are here to stay and work on the areas that can actually make a difference. Guns bans are really just exercises in political gamesmanship.

[llubon]

However, all that still ignores the obvious point which is that none of the policies these places have imposed will happen here nor could they work even if they were.

LMAO, you probably said the same thing about gay marriage and weed

[ms maggie]

We be talking about the Constitution.

.

Unalienable rights are referenced in the Declaration, not the Constitution. Did God endow us with the right to bear arms, or the right to a speedy trial, or the right not to quarter soldiers?

Cool.

[genghiskhanraven]

The whole of Australia has just a few more people than the state of Texas. I don't know why people keep making these comparisons.

Funny
The whole of North Korea has a few less people than the state of Texas so I don't know why than you never object when gun nutters use North Korea for comparisons.

Change your name to Decipio

[kudzu]

Since when do we look for direction towards a freakin' former limey penal colony ?

[flyboy56]

Unalienable rights are referenced in the Declaration, not the Constitution. Did God endow us with the right to bear arms, or the right to a speedy trial, or the right not to quarter soldiers?

Cool.

"the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it" -would the people use pee shooters to abolish the government if need be?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

[kudzu]

"the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it" -would the people use pee shooters to abolish the government if need be?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

People who so actively debate the intentions of the Founders tend to forget that said intent can easily be found in the Declaration.

And the writings of Franklin and Jefferson, among others.

You don't like it now ? Fine. Change it. There's an avenue.

[genghiskhanraven]

People who so actively debate the intentions of the Founders tend to forget that said intent can easily be found in the Declaration.

And the writings of Franklin and Jefferson, among others.

You don't like it now ? Fine. Change it. There's an avenue.

News flash
Prohibiting people from yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre isnt a violation of the first amendment.
Restricting the sale of high capacity magazines and assault rifles to just the military will not be a violation of th second amendment

Come back to us when they propose busting down people's doors and confiscating all weapons

[soulflower]

Australia doesn't have a second amendment, so it's apples and oranges.

I thought self defense is a human right?

[soulflower]

The whole of Australia has just a few more people than the state of Texas. I don't know why people keep making these comparisons.

Yet Pro-gun advocates constantly compare crime in the US to the UK

[kudzu]

News flash
Prohibiting people from yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre isnt a violation of the first amendment.
Restricting the sale of high capacity magazines and assault rifles to just the military will not be a violation of th second amendment

Come back to us when they propose busting down people's doors and confiscating all weapons

And who exactly decides what constitutes an "assault weapon" or a "high capacity" magazine ?

[soulflower]

What do you think? Because something seems to work on a small, homogenous sample doesn't mean it works on a vastly larger heterogenous one. I've see comparisons to Australia, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, even Israel and not a one of them is meaningful when compared to the US. Plus, Australia largely confiscated guns, something that will never happen here.

Australia and Israel are far from homogenous

[Contumacious]

Unalienable rights are referenced in the Declaration, not the Constitution. Did God endow us with the right to bear arms, or the right to a speedy trial, or the right not to quarter soldiers?

Cool.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my bad.

The declaration of independence referred to rights retained by the .......Canadians?.............Mexicans?........... .Italians? Am I close?

.

[kudzu]

Australia and Israel are far from homogenous

Yet neither one are the United States of America.

Not by a long shot.

[genghiskhanraven]

And who exactly decides what constitutes an "assault weapon" or a "high capacity" magazine ?

Grab some popcorn and put on CSPAN to find out
Better yet get a 12 pack because you're going to be bored out of your mind

[soulflower]

Yet neither one are the United States of America.

Not by a long shot.

Brazil is almost comparable to the US in population size and diversity. They actually have more gun deaths per 100k than we do...

[flyboy56]

News flash
Prohibiting people from yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre isnt a violation of the first amendment.
Restricting the sale of high capacity magazines and assault rifles to just the military will not be a violation of th second amendment

Come back to us when they propose busting down people's doors and confiscating all weapons

But they don't gag everyone before going into the theater so they can't yell fire. It's the same as taking away someone's semi-auto rifle before they shoot someone. As in guilty before the crime has even been committed.

[genghiskhanraven]

But they don't gag everyone before going into the theater so they can't yell fire. It's the same as taking away someone's semi-auto rifle before they shoot someone. As in guilty before the crime has even been committed.

They're not proposing to take away anyone's guns. They're banning the sale of future assault weapons like they banned the sale of machine guns in the 30's and we seem to have survived from turning into a tyrannical state and didnt need everyone being able to pack full autos to stop it. You never have had the right to bear any arm that man can create, they can ban semi autos if it can get through the house and senate.