Posted on 12/15/2014 4:49:04 PM PST by naturalman1975
Early this morning the Martin Place siege ended with the death of the lone gunman and tragically, the loss of two hostages – innocent Australians caught up in the horror of yesterday.
Five other people – four hostages and a New South Wales police officer – have been injured.
State and Commonwealth agencies are investigating.
Understandably, there is lot of speculation but it will take time to clarify exactly what happened in Martin Place and why.
What we do know is that the perpetrator was well known to State and Commonwealth authorities. He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability.
We know that he sent offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan and was found guilty of offences related to this. We also know that he posted graphic extremist material online.
As the siege unfolded yesterday, he sought to cloak his actions with the symbolism of the ISIL death cult.
Tragically, there are people in our community ready to engage in politically motivated violence.
The events in Martin Place also show that we are ready to deal with these people professionally and with the full force of law.
I want to thank the New South Wales Police and all the other agencies involved for their professionalism and courage.
Yesterday, Premier Baird showed great steadfastness and Sydneysiders can be proud of their calm during what was a very difficult and testing day.
Australians should be reassured by the way our law enforcement and security agencies responded to this brush with terrorism.
There is nothing more Australian than dropping in at the local cafe for a morning coffee and it's tragic beyond words that people going about their everyday business should have been caught up in such a horrific incident.
Our hearts go out to all of those caught up in this appalling incident and their loved ones.
On behalf of all Australians, I extend my sympathy to the families of the two hostages who died overnight.
These events do demonstrate that even a country as free, as open, as generous and as safe as ours is vulnerable to acts of politically motivated violence.
But they also remind us that Australia and Australians are resilient and we are ready to respond.
Now, I do intend to go to Sydney early in the afternoon to be further briefed by New South Wales Police and other security agencies. I also intend to say thank you as best I can in person to New South Wales police officers and others involved in this appalling incident.
I'll do more media then and I'll take questions at that time when we do have a better idea of exactly what has happened.
Plainly, there are lessons to be learnt and we will thoroughly examine this incident to decide what lessons can be learnt. But I do want now, in the hours immediately after the conclusion of the siege, to offer these words of comfort to those caught up in it and reassurance to the Australian people.
I doubt anything about that will be confirmed until after its been through the Coroners Court. That’s normal practice here.
That's not a concept that really exists here. If you have a handgun licence, you can carry a handgun, concealed or openly. We don't make the distinctions Americans do.
But handgun licences are rare. Partly because they are not easy to get but mostly because very few people bother. I do have one but I don't know many other people who do. Then again, I might now know in a lot of cases. But they are rare. 1 in 100 people would be an overestimate.
It would be interesting to know what it took in terms of time and effort to attain them. Did your previous service in (I believe) the Navy make it easier? What is the process involved?
I’m in New Mexico USA and purchased 5 handguns at two stores in a total of less than a half an hour. (The stars aligned back in the day when I was collecting Smith and Wessons). I’m just, as we say “Joe Schmoe”.
Thank you for the info.
Your first gun licence has a 28 day waiting period, but if you already have a basic licence, you don't have to wait that long for a higher level one.
The real bugbear in the process is you need to get an individual permit for any gun you want to buy. And that can take at least ten days by itself. I actually don't have any real problem with the licencing process myself - I do think the permit to acquire idea is a big problem though.
You may have guns, but are you and your law abiding countrymen able to carry them on your person for use in self defense?
I’m carrying one right now.
Well played, but you misspelled liberal!
The correct spelling is LIEberal, because LIEberals LIE!
As with many other situation such as this, one good guy with a gun could have prevented the 2 innocent person’s deaths.
Oh, how could I forget? Australia is a “gun free zone!”
In 2008, gun owners in Australia were forced by law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms which were destroyed by their own Government.
If one of them had been available yesterday to a good guy, the Moslem thug would be taking a dirt nap and everybody else would be alive.
No it isn't. I'm a gun owner myself - one of somewhere around a million Australian gun owners owning millions of guns between us.
In 2008, gun owners in Australia were forced by law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms which were destroyed by their own Government.
No, they weren't. Your information is seriously flawed.
(It wasn't 2008 - it was 1998 - and most of the guns were voluntarily sold to the government in a buyback - people were not forced to surrender them in most cases. They chose to for a fair cash price).
There's a lot of misinformation on the web about the situation in Australia.
Title: When Muslims attack.
I stand corrected, then.
HST, are you allowed to carry?
Yes, but getting the licence to do so takes some work - and very few people bother even if they could do so.
A large number of people don’t seem to try because they believe it’s even harder than it is.
PS If there is a lot of misinformation about guns in Australia, where would one go to get the real scoop?
If I could take my guns and ammo to Australia, I might seriously consider moving there.
I had seven Australian liberty visits cancelled by when I was on active duty. I am under the impression that Australia is a wonderful place to live and work.
Is there a movement afoot, or any sentiment to make it easier for one to obtain “permission” to carry?
Very impressive!
What is the procedure for purchasing (respectively) a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol? Does one have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy to do so?
Honestly, I don't know. Anti gun sentiment is a very big deal in Australia and most of us who do support gun rights stay pretty quiet about it, because if the gun control nuts get agitated, it makes us more likely to lose even the rights we still have. We work quietly.
If I could take my guns and ammo to Australia, I might seriously consider moving there.
If gun rights matter to you, I wouldn't move here. While guns aren't banned, we have a lot of dumb laws to deal with. You can't own many. And we do have universal licencing and registration. And while there are a lot of guns you can own, there are a lot you can't (and the reasons behind that don't always make sense - often it just seems because it "looked scary" without regard to power or anything like that) and even if it's legal, importing guns can be really hard work because Customs will make it far more difficult than they are supposed to.
I had seven Australian liberty visits cancelled by when I was on active duty. I am under the impression that Australia is a wonderful place to live and work.
In a lot of ways it is. But gun rights are not part of that. To me, for whom a gun is just a tool to have available, I can live with them - but I wouldn't want to be any sort of 'enthusiast' or collector.
Yes, we are gradually getting some of the laws relaxed. It's easier to own guns now than it was ten years ago - but it's still harder than it was twenty years ago. 1997-2006 or so were the hardest period.
Yes.
It differs somewhat from state to state, and I can only really speak for my own.
What we have is a graded licencing system. A basic A/B licence that allows you to own basic hunting style rifles (non-semi automatic) and shotguns is quite easy to get as long as you don't have a criminal record. But there's a 28 day waiting period for a first licence.
And even with a licence you need a permit to purchase any gun - and that takes about ten days to get. It's pointless paperwork and it's the part of the process I object to (I personally don't have a problem with requiring a gun licence, viewing it as similar to a drivers licence - but once you have your drivers licence you can just buy a car. Not that easy with guns.
If you want a handgun or a semi-automatic rifle/shotgun, you need a more specialised licence (Category H for handguns, Category C for the longarms) and that requires forms and an interview to get and can be refused for even pretty minor reasons. There's appeals processes if refused, but that just makes it even more complex.
Anything higher than that - fully automatics etc, are theoretically possible but in practice, most people won't get a licence for those.
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