Text 26340, 48 rader
Skriven 2012-03-03 16:40:00 av Paul Quinn (3:640/384)
     Kommentar till en text av Alexey Vissarionov (2:5020/545)
Ärende: Solstice ceremonies
===========================
Hi! Alexey,

On Sat, 03 Mar 12, you wrote to me:

 PQ>> Oh, and over here, "self defence" is -not- a valid reason to
 PQ>> apply for a licence nor to possess weapons.

 AV> That's normal, and all my arsenal includes only hunting weapons. The
 AV> question really was about use of weapons people officially own.

Read that again.  A firearm is the -last- available option.  The law here works
according to a system that I know our police operate on in confrontational
situations with wrongdoers, called 'scaled response'.  That is, if a baddie
presents with a penknife in a 'home invasion' one cannot blow away said baddie
with one's favourite .308 hunting lever action, and, expect to get away with
just a pat on the back from a jury & judge.

That means to say that the proper response ought to be something like finding a
steak knife or similar.  If that doesn't seem to persuade them from being a
further nuisance, or they pull a hunting knife out of their pants, then one
might be entitled to then present a larger kitchen chopper.  All the while
trying to convince said baddie that it would not be in their interest to
escalate or persist further.

 PQ>> Welcome to the police state, where our defence is reliant on call-out
 PQ>> response times. Hereabouts, there are quite often single patrol cars
 PQ>> 'after dark', looking out for the protection of ~35,000 population.

 AV> I thought _I_ am living in a police state...

Oh, it's not that bad here.  I am somewhat at more risk of being the subject of
a full-on search of my vehicle than the average John J. Citizen, due to my
possession of a weapons licence (the alarm bells -will- ring in the copper's
ears when they radio in my vehicle registration details, and get a warning that
there might be weapons on board).  Otherwise I give 'em a wave and a gidday
(aussie for 'good day').  Sometimes I get the same back.

On the other hand, the risk of a crime against me or my family is somewhat
slight.  Ordinarily any 'crime against the person' is perpetrated by someone
known to the family.  We are on good terms with all of ours... mmm... except
for my brother; he hasn't spoken to me after I called him a cranky old man
about eight years ago.  ;-)

Cheers,
Paul.

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