bordelond not wanting to speak for the Aussies being Irish and all but that sounds about right to me. It is alien to me to think about having a weapon for self defense. What the fuck am I gonna do with a sword. Give it to the burglar to spank me with? Criminals are rarely armed over here. Cops don’t have guns like the UK. While shotguns are legal in Ireland with a license if you use them for self defense you are going to jail.
BTW Gary Kumquat is a scot so maybe he won’t want to talk for the Aussies either
Actually, according to IMDB, this is an American film, produced by the always-classy Jerry Bruckheimer. Don’t blame us Aussies if morons like Bruckheimer and the (American) writers thought that this was a good way to portray Australia.
If you want to “hunt down those responsible,” may i suggest a trip to LA?
Gary Kumquat Problem is, it has little to do with the people of a country, rather the (as noted) kneejerk reaction of the politicians of said country.
Criminals here can fairly regularly be armed. Self-defense is, to all intents and purposes, illegal. Harming a criminal in the act of a crime is illegal and will result in prosecution. I cannot cite tis but it happened here in Tassie quite recently.
Get mugged? Guy tried to mug me earlier this year. He was armed. Now, I am not suggesting we all carry swords or such in public, but our wonderful govt has been removing any means of self-defense for a long time now. Check around and people will tell you that they do not feel all that safe.
Gun control issues usually don’t get me too exciting one way or the other, except when the idea of banning comes up. Banning samurai swords seems awfully silly unless one also bans kitchen knives. But, hey, Autralians get to do things their own way, right?
Remember what happened when Bart tried to straighten out that country?
Scoff all you like, Airman, but you don’t have to live with marauding hordes of SCAians and pimply-faced D&D playing teenagers roaming the streets of Sydney, attacking decent, hardworking citizens with their ferocious and unstopable medieval weaponry! Laws like this are vital and necessary to the public good! I recently signed a petition that will outlaw flint-knapping and severly restrict the availability of atl-atls to law enforcement and military personel, and if you’re anything other than a bloodsoaked murderous savage, you’d do the same! Think of the children, dammit!
I think that’s what’s at the root of some of the hysteria gun owners feel over suggestions that they be banned/limited. Fear of losing their “magic wands” if you know what I mean…
Do you have some stats showing what the crime rate of things like hot break-ins (home invasions, burglaries where the residents are home), muggings, and other violent crimes were before guns were banned and now?
So is it just Samurai swords? Are rapiers and cutlasses still legal? If so, is there some explanation for this?
But beware: One day they come for your crossbow, and the next it’ll be your Volkswagan-flinging trebuchet. And with that, Austrailia will forever be unable to host its own “Junkyard Wars” franchise.
In all seriousness the sword ban is a matter of concern amongst Oz SCAers. Sure, when we hit each other it is with rattan, but when dressed in our frippery and finery we often like to carry steel (for display, not combat).
Sam Stone, I haven’t read the Victoria proposal myself, but from some comments on the Oz SCA mailing list the legislation may well cover blades other than samurai swords – presumably not sport/fencing foils, but probably a display rapier or cutlass. Just not a bush machete.
Yes, but it was filmed in Australia, i.e. within crossbow range. Rather than banning crossbows outright, I would think Australia would be far better off using them on movie producers who come to Australia to make movies about rapping kangaroos. It really would be in everyone’s best interests.
Utter bullshit. Self defense may be a misunderstood concept, but it’s certainly alive and well in Australian criminal law.
Airman Doors, USAF, this may be difficult to comprehend, but Australia is what we call a federation of states.
The state the subject of the OP is called, “Victoria”.
Ergo, when Victoria moves to ban something, we say – for example – “Victoria looking to ban samurai swords and crossbows.”
The Commonwealth of Australia is looking to ban nothing.
Giraffe, what the hell is that movie?! :eek:
**Yes. But no one in Australia gives a shit. We like controls on the weaponry people are allowed to own. This is not a “ludicrous” proposition in our culture. You’re free to hold your national opinions on guns, knives, pepper spray or what have you – which, we consider to be ludicrous and nonsense – but we’ll keep ours.
but that sounds about right to me. It is alien to me to think about having a weapon for self defense. What the fuck am I gonna do with a sword. Give it to the burglar to spank me with? Criminals are rarely armed over here. Cops don’t have guns like the UK. While shotguns are legal in Ireland with a license if you use them for self defense you are going to jail.