Post by tommygun on Apr 28, 2006 21:02:15 GMT -5
Hello all Aussieseek and matilda are great sites and I have gained much information and pleasure from my visits here. This site was allocated to me
by my teacher to do a class review on the issue of guns in australia and the posts here have given me a great background on which to base my thesis " The media tells us there is 90% support for the banning of automatic
and semi automatic and military style weapons in Australia. This
message is drummed into us time after time, until we cannot help but
believe it.
We are told that gun owners are a very small minority in our
community, yet there are estimated to be many
privately owned firearms in Australia.
Such numbers are extremely
politically significant, the major parties ignore them at their peril.
Mr Howards latest new gun restriction have suprised us all.
what most have failed to do with the gun issue is realise that Australian society
has changed. The Tasmanian massacre was a watershed. Before then, the
pollies were running scared of the gun lobby because they believed that it
was an electoral liability.Today, the reverse is true. We shall see if its a political
liability. Personally I suspect that gun ownership is not going to be a big
determinant of how people vote. Why? 'cause gun ownership has never been
considered important, in the same way it is in america where they shrilly
talk of their "right" to have a gun and scream that its "only guns which
keep governments honest"
Australians are, in the main, a little more thoughful and a little
more politically and economically aware than the average American IMO. They
know that its the voters that keep government honest, not the mere
possession of guns. Ask an Australian if they feel Australia should go down
the same road as America has with guns and violence and 9 times out of 10,
or more, they will recoil with fear and loathing and say emphatically, "NO!"
This political and economic awareness will work to the benefit of
the parties introducing the gun control IMO. For them, they know that
Australians tend to vote with their wallets.
12 months down the track
and some Australians will perhaps resent what has occurred but the
majority will instead vote because of the economic and perhaps labour
policies of the major parties rather than because of the promised gun control .As you see, by making gun control an issue the
Coalition is in a political win-win situation.
Everyone knows it is
a left wing policy, the left will applaud it and vote ALP as they always
have. The middle and right also will not denounce it and punish the
Coalition for deserting them. The anti gun lobby wins both ways.
Thats my point of view.
Any comments?
by my teacher to do a class review on the issue of guns in australia and the posts here have given me a great background on which to base my thesis " The media tells us there is 90% support for the banning of automatic
and semi automatic and military style weapons in Australia. This
message is drummed into us time after time, until we cannot help but
believe it.
We are told that gun owners are a very small minority in our
community, yet there are estimated to be many
privately owned firearms in Australia.
Such numbers are extremely
politically significant, the major parties ignore them at their peril.
Mr Howards latest new gun restriction have suprised us all.
what most have failed to do with the gun issue is realise that Australian society
has changed. The Tasmanian massacre was a watershed. Before then, the
pollies were running scared of the gun lobby because they believed that it
was an electoral liability.Today, the reverse is true. We shall see if its a political
liability. Personally I suspect that gun ownership is not going to be a big
determinant of how people vote. Why? 'cause gun ownership has never been
considered important, in the same way it is in america where they shrilly
talk of their "right" to have a gun and scream that its "only guns which
keep governments honest"
Australians are, in the main, a little more thoughful and a little
more politically and economically aware than the average American IMO. They
know that its the voters that keep government honest, not the mere
possession of guns. Ask an Australian if they feel Australia should go down
the same road as America has with guns and violence and 9 times out of 10,
or more, they will recoil with fear and loathing and say emphatically, "NO!"
This political and economic awareness will work to the benefit of
the parties introducing the gun control IMO. For them, they know that
Australians tend to vote with their wallets.
12 months down the track
and some Australians will perhaps resent what has occurred but the
majority will instead vote because of the economic and perhaps labour
policies of the major parties rather than because of the promised gun control .As you see, by making gun control an issue the
Coalition is in a political win-win situation.
Everyone knows it is
a left wing policy, the left will applaud it and vote ALP as they always
have. The middle and right also will not denounce it and punish the
Coalition for deserting them. The anti gun lobby wins both ways.
Thats my point of view.
Any comments?