Topic: Can I have one ?

[vfourfreak]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-41196637

[Terry in Australia]

If you like guns like I do Kev it's a bit of a shame that the guns in the foreground are heading for the shredder. The farmer that handed them in said that the pump action shotgun and (I think) the M1911 Colt were souvenirs that were brought back from the Vietnam war by a family member and the Luger was another family heirloom from WW1. I'm guessing that the Webley revolver was also.

The problem that we have here (like anywhere else) is that unregistered guns are making it into the hands of terrorists, (two recent terrorist attacks involved unregistered shotguns) so as much as the farmer was sad to hand them in, he didn't want them being used to commit an atrocity. Sad, but understandable. Cheers, Terry.    

[vfourfreak]

It was the same in Ireland back in the early '70s when the government said enough was enough. All sorts of goodies got handed in, including drum magazine Thompsons dating from the war of independance. I remember a mate of mine had access to a Walther PPK, before it got handed in we squeezed off a few rounds in the lane behind his house. Hooligans.

But as you say, best out of the reach of the real villains.

Kev

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I bought an air pistol in England in 1974 and we forgot that it was in the Hillman Avenger hire car when we drove into Belfast and an RUC vehicle stop. Luckily the Australian accents must have put them off because they didn't do a vehicle search, or I might still be languishing in Maze Prison.......

[scrapvalue]

Not sure if anyone has noticed, but the most of the last terrorist attacks have been committed with vehicles. 
Do they start taking vehicles away from law abiding citizens now?
I call bull#$%*.

[vfourfreak]

Yeah mate, I bought an air pistol in England in 1974 and we forgot that it was in the Hillman Avenger hire car when we drove into Belfast and an RUC vehicle stop. Luckily the Australian accents must have put them off because they didn't do a vehicle search, or I might still be languishing in Maze Prison.......

Back in the day there was considerable cross border shopping traffic during the run up to Christmas to avail of price diferentials, mostly south to north. One December in the 80s a southern family got stopped at an RUC / Army VCP while heading South on a cold dark evening. Apparently the armed RUC officer (well they were all armed) was a bit of a bollix and had the driver empty out the car and all the contents of the boot (err Trunk) onto the side of the road. Eventually, when satisfied, he gave the driver permission to put everything back in, and showed a little heart by assisting the gentleman. The car is waved on, crosses the border into the south and eventually reaches home in Dublin. As the driver unloads the boot, amongst the boxes of lego and tins of Cadbury's roses, to his dismay he finds a Hecler and Koch which he certainly had not bought as a gift for anyone and was definitely not part of the car's toolkit.

About the same time an embarassed RUC officer is explaining to his Guv'nor that his HK weapon is now out of the jurisdiction, and worse, it is to be found in that safe haven of the IRA. And all because he used his manly arms to help.

Apparently the "package" discreetly made it's way back home courtesy of the Southern police.

Kev

[BomberMann650]

Article Translated; "oh no we're afraid of getting hurt by terrorists.  lets disarm ourselves so the government doesn't label us criminals"

+1 to Bull sh--

[magnum56]

If you like guns like I do Kev it's a bit of a shame that the guns in the foreground are heading for the shredder. The farmer that handed them in said that the pump action shotgun and (I think) the M1911 Colt were souvenirs that were brought back from the Vietnam war by a family member and the Luger was another family heirloom from WW1. I'm guessing that the Webley revolver was also.

The problem that we have here (like anywhere else) is that unregistered guns are making it into the hands of terrorists, (two recent terrorist attacks involved unregistered shotguns) so as much as the farmer was sad to hand them in, he didn't want them being used to commit an atrocity. Sad, but understandable. Cheers, Terry.    

Is it that difficult to register a firearm ?   I can't imagine a farmer / rancher without at least a shotgun on the homestead.   

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I bought an air pistol in England in 1974 and we forgot that it was in the Hillman Avenger hire car when we drove into Belfast and an RUC vehicle stop. Luckily the Australian accents must have put them off because they didn't do a vehicle search, or I might still be languishing in Maze Prison.......

Back in the day there was considerable cross border shopping traffic during the run up to Christmas to avail of price diferentials, mostly south to north. One December in the 80s a southern family got stopped at an RUC / Army VCP while heading South on a cold dark evening. Apparently the armed RUC officer (well they were all armed) was a bit of a bollix and had the driver empty out the car and all the contents of the boot (err Trunk) onto the side of the road. Eventually, when satisfied, he gave the driver permission to put everything back in, and showed a little heart by assisting the gentleman. The car is waved on, crosses the border into the south and eventually reaches home in Dublin. As the driver unloads the boot, amongst the boxes of lego and tins of Cadbury's roses, to his dismay he finds a Hecler and Koch which he certainly had not bought as a gift for anyone and was definitely not part of the car's toolkit.

About the same time an embarassed RUC officer is explaining to his Guv'nor that his HK weapon is now out of the jurisdiction, and worse, it is to be found in that safe haven of the IRA. And all because he used his manly arms to help.

Apparently the "package" discreetly made it's way back home courtesy of the Southern police.

Kev

It was an interesting time Kev, back in the 1980's, when security was pretty lax, one of our Army unit's old armouries was broken into and 10 SMG's were stolen. The burglars couldn't open the safe, so they didn't get the bolts that were stored separate from the submachine guns, but that didn't stop one crazy Bulgarian immigrant from shooting several police officers here in Melbourne with one that he'd bought on the black market, and at least one found it's way to Northern Ireland.

Years later I worked at a plant hire company and would chat with a couple of Irish boys who's accents were so thick a lot of their customers couldn't understand them. When Gerry Adams conducted the historic hand over of IRA weapons in 2001(?) I mentioned this to the boys in conversation, and was told (with some authority, apparently) that they only handed over their junk, and still had the good ones............    

[Terry in Australia]

If you like guns like I do Kev it's a bit of a shame that the guns in the foreground are heading for the shredder. The farmer that handed them in said that the pump action shotgun and (I think) the M1911 Colt were souvenirs that were brought back from the Vietnam war by a family member and the Luger was another family heirloom from WW1. I'm guessing that the Webley revolver was also.

The problem that we have here (like anywhere else) is that unregistered guns are making it into the hands of terrorists, (two recent terrorist attacks involved unregistered shotguns) so as much as the farmer was sad to hand them in, he didn't want them being used to commit an atrocity. Sad, but understandable. Cheers, Terry.    

Is it that difficult to register a firearm ?   I can't imagine a farmer / rancher without at least a shotgun on the homestead.   

Yeah, I'd say that all farmers here own guns, but that makes them targets for gun thefts, and that was what he was worried about. It's not hard to register handguns here, but once you own them, you have to be a member of a gun club and a regular attendee at club events etc. Owners of long arms aren't under as much scrutiny as handgun owners, so as long as they're secured in gun safes and the owner pays his license fees, he's good to go. Cheers, Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Not sure if anyone has noticed, but the most of the last terrorist attacks have been committed with vehicles. 
Do they start taking vehicles away from law abiding citizens now?
I call bull#$%*.

Yeah mate, it's a lot easier to rent/steal a truck and mow down a group of tourists than it is to find a gun outside of the US where guns aren't as readily available, but there's a black market for guns here, if you've got the cash.

Most of the handguns come from the US, stolen from gun owners there and shipped out to Oz in containers of motorcycle parts by the big outlaw clubs with chapters in Oz, but the longarms used in the two recent terrorist attacks here were unregistered shotguns sold for well above their face value to Muslim extremists. We haven't had a terrorist attack involving vehicles yet, but I'm sure it'll happen here, eventually. Cheers, Terry.