Posted on 04/06/2014 1:52:23 PM PDT by naturalman1975
SUBURBAN schoolchildren as young as 12 years old are applying for and getting gun licences in their hundreds, new figures show.
The approved youngsters, including pre-teens, can legally shoot rifles, shotguns and handguns under supervision.
Victoria Police approved 1028 licences in metropolitan areas last year — more than 270 were granted to children aged 12 to 14.
Junior gun owners live in some of the state’s most exclusive suburbs including Prahran and span as far as the Mornington Peninsula and Geelong.
Epping is Melbourne’s young gun capital with 211 permits given the green light to under 18s.
Victorian chief executive of the Sporting Shooters’ Association Jack Wegman said the legitimate use of firearms was not a concern to the community.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldsun.com.au ...
We certainly have some restrictions to deal with, including some very dumb restrictions. It's harder to own a gun than it should be. But it's really not that hard.
I will say that I find this very surprising - I would not have expected the state government to do this, and am heartened by it. A more-or-less official acknowledgement that this is a legitimate sporting activity for children surprises me - until now, the government attitude has been more along the lines of "Keep quiet and we'll let you do it. But we don't want a fuss from the anti-gun people so try not to attract attention."
My daughter, who lives in Canberra, laughs when people say Australia is gun free since there seem to be shootings in Sydney on the news all the time. It seems they neglect to consider all the illegal guns smuggled into the country.
To say nothing about being forced to give up your Ruger 10-22, everything you got to keep is now on a list, and they will be back to take them any day now.
They do, but there are also millions of guns held legally. It's important to point that out, because if the only guns out there were the illegal ones in the hands of criminals, calls for further gun control might make more sense.
But legally held firearms are rarely used in crimes. We do have laws that say people with serious criminal histories, or recent minor criminal histories may be prevented from legally owning guns. But law abiding citizens can generally be trusted to remain law abiding.
No, I'm not. I'm just not going to claim it's worse than it is while I try to make it better.
To say nothing about being forced to give up your Ruger 10-22, everything you got to keep is now on a list, and they will be back to take them any day now.
I've never given up a firearm in my life. I've never had to. I've been limited in my choice of what I could but certainly - I happened to want the SLR I've got as my main long gun, because it's what I was trained to use in the service - if I'd wanted an M-16, or an AR-15, I'd have been out of luck, but I wasn't after that. And I think that's wrong and rather stupid.
But I don't fear having my weapons taken. If a government had wanted to do that, quite seriously, they could have in the late 1990s. There was overwhelming public support for a near total ban on firearms, and politically they could have done it. They didn't, and I do not see any reason at all to suppose they are likely to try in the future, because we are moving further and further away from that type of mindset, not closer and closer to it.
Australia rocks, BTW. Went to Perth and Freemantle back in 1994. LOVED it.
“SUBURBAN schoolchildren as young as 12 years old are applying for and getting gun licences in their hundreds,...”
Why do they have to wait until they’re in their hundreds to get their licences...if they can apply as young as 12?
That sentence is correct ... yourinterpretation is wrong.
Yet they are all LICENSED! That means the government may confiscate them at any time.
By the way, I was legally hunting in Michigan at the age of 11, fired my first rifle at the age of seven, owned my first 22 LR and shotgun at the age of 11, and had my first center fire rifle at the age of 13 all with no approval or knowledge of any government.
Do You get to shoot much Skydancer?
Just pellet guns. Go out into the bush to some farms and hunt mice and stuff - rodents and whatnot - they tear up the farmers grain/corn bins. Some of us make a day of it.
Sounds like fun.
Do they even have snakes in Australia? Surely they do.
That would make some fun .410 Hunting.
Snakes?! Oh G-d yeah! The Australian brown snake is very deadly! Hangs out in the bush, peoples back yards - four feet long is not uncommon and some are longer.
On Guam they had those Creep Brown Snakes. They have been trying for years to get rid of them.
You ever had to face on down? :0
Surprisingly enough - the cats down here are pretty good at killing them. Don’t know how they do it but they do it ....
Ping to Armed Children in Australia.
“Our membership certainly is starting to reflect a younger demographic which we think is very good.
“We think 12 is a good age to introduce shooters (to the sport). Twelve is a recognised age for being on the brink of that youthfulness rather than childhood. It’s a good age.”
Mr Wegman believed numbers were increasing because more parents were deciding to arm their offspring for hunting and target shooting.
Sounds perfectly natural to me...as long as they follow the laws about gun safety and don't leave them lying around loaded.
Its really laudable, freedom us being guaranteed by
institutional training and culture.
The torch of freedom is being passed.
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