One could write a book on the differences between Australia and the US as nations. It is wide apart culturally as countries, especially in business, but the people have more similarities than differences.
Americans that have never traveled are generally poor listeners, aided by the inability to ask relevant questions so I, like most Aussies, get pretty tired to the same off regurgitated "You gave up your guns" BS.
I never met or knew a single person in Oz that owned an AR and I don't recall seeing many or any at the public ranges I frequented 2-3 dozen times a year for over 25 years there. Let me qualify that statement..........
Most have seen the picture on the Net of the "purchased" firearms being piled up for crushing during the buy back. The fat guy in the pic overseeing it was my father in law. The company doing the crushing was Metal Recycler's in Chipping Norton in Sydney. You will note from that pic that there are "NO" AR's in that pic, not a single one.
My FIL told me that even though the buy back included all semi auto's and pump's, there wasn't a quality gun in the lot. They were all pilfered long before arrival and all Aussies know that Browning's were a hot item in Oz. None, Zip. Maybe they weren't sold off, who knows?
Handguns, were never common and were removed from common access after WW1 (I recall 1926) but the point is, the handgun culture never existed there nor a market for them. Also, there is no "Bill of Rights" the equal of what the US has in place.
Now here is the big one. There is a sleeze element in the US that is absent in Australia. Sure, there is a scum element like anywhere else, but it is few in populous and low in profile compared to in particular, the US as a %.
Most Australians not only have never been robbed, assaulted, had a car stolen, a house broken into or even know anyone else who has. In the US it is at levels that are so high and so frequent it doesn't make it as newsworthy. The level of sleeze though existing everywhere, is much higher in the US which is why Americans feel a need to carry and claim the right to as justification. I do too.
I used to take American visitors down the Rocks under the Harbour Bridge at night in Sydney. Never had a single one who wasn't fearful just looking into the dark. Made hilarious entertainment and a point of fun over a drink later on. Sure you can get mugged, but you'd have to go out of your way to very specific streets decades known, for bad behaviour and therefore easily avoided and excluded from your life.
One of the biggest differences between the 2 countries is that America developed its travel routes. Many towns are 7 or 8 miles apart as that's is where the stage coach stops were. I used to live near one in the Rockies, an old log cabin pub where there was still an employment poster on the wall asking for mail riders, preferably orphaned and over 17 years of age. That's America and its foundation. The country is the same size as Australia so this landscape assisted crime in that people could commit acts and move on so easily and "Scott free". Americans have evolved watching their backs in their own country. Aussies, not so much.
Australia is a far more arid nation by comparison, so expansion was restricted by constant drought, poor soil and no people to toil over the land. Hence properties are in acres per animals and not animals per acre as in the US.
The one value an Australian has that and American may never have is the vote.
American voting is voluntary so only a relatively small percentage of population decides who rules. That is why the process can be controlled and manipulated. By comparison, Australian voting is compulsory, in person, on paper, and counted in front of opposition observers. The other value is that Aussies generally disrespect politicians almost as a culture, to the point of sacking them whenever the "Hip pocket nerve" is affected. It is political suicide to piss off a voter in Oz. In the US, they always miraculously find a van full of incomplete or pre-printed votes from several cemetery residents to get across the line.
SUMMARY 1. American's do not know anything about Australian Gun Laws or their history. 2. Aussie's have a history of blowing their stack if pushed too hard and that time appears to be coming.
I disagree. I've traveled a bit and lived in 10 different countries than the USA. Granted I only lived in Australia for a year. My friend who lived in Australia most of his life had very high-end rifles which he was required to register and then had them bought out by the Australian government for less than 5% of what he had in them. Your generalizations show that you do not know near as much as you pretend.
Bugger, Please quote my generalizations? I spoke of what I know to be true first hand, after living there 49 years not being a damn tourist quoting second hand info at best. Your fallacy of a 5% return under the buy back program is as genuine as your first hand knowledge. Full of soup. I know more about that program than you will ever know because I was there and went through it, so I very sincerely and in the best of Australian vernacular request that you bugger off, as you bring nothing of value to this discussion and only generate unnecessary friction. John Woods
When truth is ignored, it does not change an untruth from remaining a lie.
