Mindset ....

What can we learn from this news article? ...

Women targeted by armed sex attacker in West Perth

POLICE believe the same man is responsible for separate attacks on two women in West Perth.

In the first incident March 30, a woman was sexually assaulted by a man carrying what was believed to be a handgun.

The 19-year-old was walking along Ord Street at about 8.30pm when the man approached her and lifted his shirt to reveal what appeared to be a handgun tucked into the waistband of his trousers.

He then sexually assaulted her in a nearby alley.

On Sunday April 29, a 26-year-old woman walking along Colin Street about 4.15pm and confronted in similar circumstances.

The man also lifted his jumper to reveal what looked like a handgun.

The woman threw her handbag at him and ran away.

Police say the man was seen riding off on a motorcycle which had been parked on Emerald Terrace.

The woman's Gucci handbag has not been found.

Police believe the offences were committed by the same man, who is described as being aged between 35 to 45 years, with fair skin, about 175cm to 185cm tall, and a medium build.

He was wearing a pair of grey knee-length shorts, a dark hooded jumper and a baseball cap during the first attack.

During the second incident, he was wearing a pair of grey knee-length shorts, a grey hooded jumper, baseball cap, and sunglasses.

On both occasions he was carrying a black backpack.

Anyone who saw the man in the area or has any information is asked to contact crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

(BTW this is right near where I work - when I go into work!)

Yep ....

The last few posts have made their way around the internet and gathered various comments which have been interesting to read. 

Firehand made this point in his post:
...

"All anyone has to do to get along in peace with me is leave me and mine alone; it'll all be smiles and happiness. But if they threaten me I'll do whatever it takes; they open the door to violence, they've got no right to whine because more than they expected walks through."


---
 
YEP!

A response to John

John stopped by my previous post to leave a comment.  (Thanks John).   I started to respond to him there and then decided my reply was probably long enough to warrant its own post.


John's post is in purple and my responses are in blue.


Hi,
the boat example is a very poor argument.
Well, I thought the car one had been over done ...  


The primary application of a gun is to kill. 
I'll concede that it is an application.  


It does not have any other uses. 
Um, no!  Guns do have other applications.


Boats are used for recreation, fishing, travel etc. Sometimes things go wrong and someone will die but it was not the purpose of the boat. 


When a gun kills someone it has done the right thing. 
I strongly believe that a gun in an inanimate object with no sense of right or wrong.  I do not agree that when a gun kills it is necessarily the right thing at all.


All the items you mention have other primary uses "boats, pillows, cars, cricket bats, stairs". Oviously they can accidentally or puposefully be used to kill but that is not what they are for.

As above.  However I will challenge you on 'cricket bats'.  Bats, as far as I know, originated from hunting clubs, so if you want to say that gun's only purpose is killing I think you'll have to same the same for bats - regardless of the different use of them today.


As for the self defense aspect I would ask you to consider some things. 


The crime rate in Perth.
Not sure where you're going here but okay .. yes, we have crime

The rate of violent crimes.
And yes, we have violent crime ....


Your gun should be stored in a gun safe I believe, how long will it take you to access it? 
Yes guns MUST be stored in a gun safe and it will take me considerable time, more than useful in a self-defense situation, to access it.

If you don't carry your gun with you (which I don't imagine you are allowed to do) it won't be able to help you anywhere besides at home.
No, I am not allowed to carry my gun (except to the range, gun shop etc) so yes, you are correct, and as for "at home" see the point above. 


The chance of your gun being stolen and used by a criminal against someone else. 
Um? This chance is extremely low.  You're more likely to have a car stolen here (despite mandatory immobolisers) and have it used in a crime.


The chance that you carrying a gun will change a non-lethal situation into a lethal one. i.e. the criminal will be forced to use lethal force on you when they may not want to. 
Totally disagree. Given that I can not carry a gun here this is irrelevant to me.  However, as I clearly stated I'm not looking to, in any way, escalate a situation, just the opposite.  Whatever tools I have to hand when in a violent situation will only be used when there is NO OTHER OPTION.  I'm certainly not advocating (and I don't know anyone who would) waving a gun around because someone bumped your shopping trolley!  


What other options are you exploring on the force continuum to defend your self? e.g. a kosh, a taser, pepper spray, etc. 
All of those are illegal here as well (to varying degrees).  Basically assume if you're carrying something purely for the purpose of self-defense you're not allowed to.

What are you willing to kill for? 
Food.  As stated in my earlier posts, I am willing to DEFEND myself.  I'm not approaching any situation with the intent to kill. 


If a person is robbing you is it worth killing him for $50?
See above.


What if he is robbing you at knifepoint, now is it worth killing him for $50?
See above.


What if the person attacking you is a minor?
See above.


Do you jog (and sprint)? Jogging will help you to run away when in danger and will help you in other ways as well.
V.true - got to do more of that.

Regards,
John.


As I said, thanks for stopping by.  I am a bit unclear on your actual stance on things so please feel free to follow up on any of the above topics.

Site meter spins ....

With both Say Uncle and JayG (MArooned) linking to the "Why should I own guns when there are no zombies to kill?" post my site meter was working overtime last night :)


Thanks guys for the links and your interesting explanations / posts on the topic.  I also found some of the comments you guys received on your posts interesting too.  So for my readers who don't read these two esteemed gentlemen I suggest you check them out!


At to all my new visitors, I hope that you're back reading this :)  You're welcome to pull up a chair and hang out here anytime you like.

Why do I own guns .... a few more questions

In my previous post I said that there were really only two valid reasons for owing anything - need and want.

However, when we're talking about guns it seems that these two aren't enough.  For some reason we seem to need to qualify our decision further.  Which is fine by me because I've got lots to say on the topic!

(Can you imagine questioning the next door neighbour about his boat in the way we get questioned about guns:

"Hi Bill ... that's a BOAT", "BOATS kill people.  That girl got seriously injured in that boat accident and now the guy wont pay.  You don't want a BOAT.  People can get KILLED by BOATS. Why have you got a BOAT?  You want to kill people."

"Um, well no, I just want to go down the Swan River with my family on Sunday afternoons.")

Can't see it happening?  Nope, nor can I.  But it is true.  People do get killed by boats, pillows, cars, cricket bats, stairs, etc etc all the time.  However, it only seems that guns (and occasionally) knives draw a level of hysteria that is really out of all proportion to anything.

So I guess I'll answer the MAJOR question first:

"Did I buy a gun to kill someone?"

No, I did not.  The fact that I haven't killed anyone should attest to this.

"Would I ever want to kill someone?"

No, I never WANT to kill anyone.  However, when the choice is clearly them or me/my family I would prefer that the one who ended up dead or maimed was "them".  I am not willing to bear violence without defending myself and I am willing to use whatever tool I have to hand to do this.  This does not mean that I go out looking for fights or put myself in dangerous situations.  In fact, if I never work violence against another human being ever I will be extremely happy.

I believe that avoiding danger is preferable, if that can't be done then running away is the next best thing, if you're not going to be able to do that then you fight and you fight to win.

"Why don't you just call the cops if you can't run away?"

To this question I have two different reactions:

a) It takes WAY TOO LONG for the cops to get to you, even if you were right outside the cop shop, by the time you've relayed the information to the 000 operator (yes, folks, it's 000 here in Australia) and they've contacted the cops it will be over (btw if the guy was armed and you managed to mention this to the operator you'll probably have to wait for the TRG (SWAT) and that will take even longer);

b) I don't understand why something people are willing to "sub-contract" out their safety and well-being to someone else just because that guy wears blue.  Sure he's got a job to do, and I wouldn't want their job.  But you can bet your last dollar his job isn't primarily about you.

So let me restate this so there is no confusion.  I DO NOT WANT TO KILL ANYONE EVER, however, if there is no other alternative open to me then I am willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that I (or my family) walk away.  Whether that involves the use of a gun, a car, a branch or bare hands is irrelevant.

It's not about guns.  Guns are just things.

Why should I own guns when there are no zombies to kill?

This question comes from Ricochet (slightly reworded), an Aussie blogger who has starting to think about guns.

She says:

“The fact still seems to remain that unlike cars, gardening implements, cricket bats and other things that could at a pinch be turned into weapons against the living or the undead, guns were specifically designed to kill or injure.

It isn't a side effect or bonus feature, it's what they're designed for.

Just because you aren't using them for that and God/Gods/Flying Spaghetti Monster/Universe-willing never intend to use them for that purpose doesn't take away from the fact that's what they're designed to do.

So the idea of going out and purposefully purchasing something that could be used to quite easily kill someone... someone who wouldn't have a chance to get close enough to fight back or defend themselves... it doesn't sit quite right with me.”

Now rather than discuss the history of cricket bats, or debate whether guns are actually designed solely for the purpose of killing, I’m going to look at the mindset behind this.

Ricochet is concerned about buying something that is designed to kill.  This just shows how far we have come from our roots - meat is sourced plastic wrapped from the supermarket.  Nothing in our ‘modern day’ environment dictates that we need to be able to kill to survive.  But that's not where things started from.

We were designed to kill – doesn’t matter how you wrap it, that’s what we’re all about.  So let me reword a sentence of hers:

“Just because you aren't doing what you’re designed to do … doesn't take away from the fact that's what you’re designed to do.”

 Yep folks, we were designed to kill to survive – food and predators.   And if we weren’t living in a “relatively safe” first world country we might actually experience more of this than we currently do.

So guns are designed to kill, and so are we, now what?

Does this mean that we all go and out and kill? No, of course not. 

To me it means that maybe we’ve been asking the wrong question.  Maybe rather than asking “can I own anything that is designed to kill” we need to ask ourselves “why should I own a gun?”  A bit like asking “why should I own a drill?”

So why should you own a gun, or a drill or anything else?

There are only two valid reasons for owning anything – need or want (tempered by the ‘can you afford it’ question).

Assuming the “can you afford it” question is answered in the positive – if you can answer  “yes” to either the “do you need it?” or “do you want it?” question then no further questions need to be asked.

Why do I own guns? Because I want to, and can afford to.

There are a lot of sub-clauses to why I want to own a gun, including:- 

• I enjoy target shooting; 
• I find shooting IPSC matches challenging; 
• I enjoy hunting and sourcing my own meat; 
• I enjoy sharing the hobby of shooting with my family.

Why do you own guns?

Poll on SMH

The Sydney Morning Herald is running a poll asking "Do our gun control laws go far enough?".


Under the poll they have four opinions, one from a hunter, a gun control advocate, a policemen and the mayor of Moree Plains Shire.


Robert Borsak ('the hunter') makes this point "THE spate of drive-by shootings in Sydney is not the result of insufficient gun control laws, or even criminal law, in this state. It is already illegal to shoot an unregistered firearm in a built-up area without regard to human life. There are three or more charges that could arise from this act alone. The problem is that there is a minority of people who do not care what the law says."


Michelle Fernando ('the advocate') seems to want gun laws tightened up so that unlicensed people can not shoot guns. WHICH IS A VERY SCARY THOUGHT and I hope the NSW gun owners fight this tooth and nail.


(Just as an aside, I had a look at a news report on the shooting of her father.  The article I found was here and does raise some interesting questions).


Scott Weber ('the policeman') says "We need a war on guns, with greater focus on stopping guns entering the country in the first place, and schemes in place to get the guns in circulation off the streets."


The one that I found most interesting was Katrina Humphries ('the mayor'), this is her comment:


LOCKS keep honest people out. Signs are for honest people to obey. Rules are for honest people to follow. Gun laws are for honest people and when guns were outlawed the outlaws kept their guns.


Zero tolerance for  illegal gun dealers and users is possibly the only way to clean up this mess, along with sizeable cash rewards for information leading to arrests of persons involved in gun crimes.  Perhaps strong mandatory jail terms for the perpetrators would also be a deterrent.
Some say our jails are overcrowded now; too bad – build more, of lesser quality, so the jail experience is a punishment not a reward. Customs also needs to be tighter.


All these solutions will take a lot of money to fund, but if governments are serious then the proceeds of crime need to be quarantined to help fund these extra measures.


We also need to start properly supporting our police.  Eyewatch is a new type of community watch network that could really take off.  Imagine the benefit to a community if there were six or eight extra sets of eyes and ears in every street. It is a real option and residents can take part without being found out by their  neighbours.


It is my belief that the politically correct and the do-gooders of this country are bringing our fantastic lifestyle and happy-go-lucky nature to their  knees.


Time is of the essence and it is only a matter of time until some poor innocent bystander, even a child, is killed in this gangland-style raiding that is happening night after night.


NSW needs to be the leader in criminal reform in Australia.  If there was ever a time for some gutsy leadership, a strong judicial system and big monetary rewards, it is now.  Lock them up and throw away the keys – there is no room in our precious world for suburban warlords and lawless communities.


Our brave police should be honoured and supported and while ever there is no respect for the law there will be no peace for law-abiding citizens. Fear should not be the burden of the honest and decent majority in our communities; it should be used as a weapon against those who wish to break the law.


If you're in Australia, particularly in NSW please go and vote in the poll and if you want to see the continuation of gun ownership fight against the petitions, like those presented by Michelle Fernando, by supporting people like Robert Borsak and Mayor Humphries.