Puzzling Police Action regarding fake gun
This is particularly puzzling since Australia has a 100% ban on all guns. That means there are no guns in the country so how could this guy possibly have a gun!
That last sentence is quite disturbing. Could this be us in a few decades?
By REUTERS
Published: May 24, 2007
CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian movie fan on his way to pose for a Star Wars 30th anniversary photo shoot was arrested by police after his replica laser pistol was mistaken for a more earthly machine gun, media reported on Friday.
The 32-year-old man, dressed in black and carrying a backpack with a replica laser blaster poking out the side, alarmed diners at a food court in central Melbourne.
``It was a replica gun. We weren't sure what we were dealing with,'' Senior-Constable Daniel Sage told the Herald Sun newspaper. Photographs showed a gun closely resembling the weapon carried by Star Wars rogue Han Solo in the cinema classic.
The man had been on his way to pose for a community newspaper ahead of the 30th Star Wars movie anniversary when he was surrounded by armed police, forced to the ground and handcuffed.
Police said despite being a harmless replica and a close match to a weapon from a galaxy far, far away, the man would be charged with possessing an unregistered firearm.
That last sentence is quite disturbing. Could this be us in a few decades?
By REUTERS
Published: May 24, 2007
CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian movie fan on his way to pose for a Star Wars 30th anniversary photo shoot was arrested by police after his replica laser pistol was mistaken for a more earthly machine gun, media reported on Friday.
The 32-year-old man, dressed in black and carrying a backpack with a replica laser blaster poking out the side, alarmed diners at a food court in central Melbourne.
``It was a replica gun. We weren't sure what we were dealing with,'' Senior-Constable Daniel Sage told the Herald Sun newspaper. Photographs showed a gun closely resembling the weapon carried by Star Wars rogue Han Solo in the cinema classic.
The man had been on his way to pose for a community newspaper ahead of the 30th Star Wars movie anniversary when he was surrounded by armed police, forced to the ground and handcuffed.
Police said despite being a harmless replica and a close match to a weapon from a galaxy far, far away, the man would be charged with possessing an unregistered firearm.
0
-
A lazer gun , even a fake one, is not a firearm. Firearms expel a projectile. I lazer beam is NOT a projectile.[:D] 0 -
Interesting perspective Grahame. I think the raw nerves we exhibit are because we were taught from before we even attended kindergarten that our fine country was based upon the principles of Freedom. Those freedoms outlined in our Bill of Rights are being circumvented in many ways every day. And when we find that we can't even count on our Constitution to protect us from those who seek to rule us, we, as a nation, have nothing in which to believe.
The current administration has successfully attacked our First (Folks wearing anti-Bush t-shirts being escorted from street corners, lest they sully the all-important photo-op during campaign stops.) and Fourth (Patriot Act, anyone?) Amendments. The Second Amendment has been under attack for longer than I've been alive and, frankly, there are few of us that are willing to see any more of our Constitutionally-protected rights erased.
So, yeah.
We're a little sensitive.0 -
Maybe they are already on a list of banned "assault weapons," and next time your local police offer cash for turning in weapons they'll buy them from you. 0 -
they have some pretty strict stuff going on for a country started by convicts, when i was little i thought it would be cool to live there, but no guns = misery 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Grahame
Yeah.. this discussion has raised some interesting points..
Maybe the US has the right idea with the right to bear arms.. maybe not.. maybe it comes down to the facts
US 340 million people ~11000 deaths from gun related crime
AU 20 million people ~100 deaths from gun related crime
US per capita deaths from gun related crime 1 in 31 thousand
AU per capita deaths from gun related crime 1 in 200 thousand
So don't you have parents in the US that want their children to live in a less fear, safe environment?
Hey man, lay off coolaid, pot and quit getting your facts from Michael Moore's movies. Pick up for instance "More Guns, Less Crime" by Lott, or do similar research yourself, see what these numbers are all about, then we'll talk. Like adults that is.
quote:
As for the comment about the AU$500 fine for putting your hand out the window.. our driving lanes are much thinner here, by about a foot and a half, the fine is really pittance to losing your arm.. but then again.. some teenages don't have a lot of common sense...
Well, here we go, the good big government protecting stupid citizens of its country from themselves. Good one. Unless you understand that your government doesn't give a flying f--k about someone losing arm, leg, head, etc., that it's there to collect dues, you're going to head exactly in the direction you're going now. Period. Return to this 10 years from now and tell me I was wrong.0 -
So we may have more per capita murders with guns than other countries.
However, that is a misleading statistic, if you just looke at the total per capita murder rate, its about the same.
Personally if I'm going to die, being shot in the head is preferable than being beaten to a pulp.
Some guy on you-tube posted some comment on some video that was anti gun, and i responded... he challenged me to find a city in the US with a lower murder rate (guns or otherwise) than his city (Calgary).
It did not take me long, I live close to San Jose, so after a breif google, calgary -990 thousand, San Jose -920 thousand.
Then I googled the number of murders in 2006, it was something like 18 to 12, San Jose's favor, he didn't reply to the thread again.
Then you have to take into account our countries border with mexico, and the mexican gangs and drugs, poverty differences here, and other factors here that aren't in Europe/Australia.
Blaming guns for a nearly identical murder rate (even if most of ours are done with guns, and in the other countries, the killers find another way) is the most retarded argument ever.0 -
Hi TheSneekyRussian, CA_Sucks and some others,
You might want to read my second post.. especially the part about other countries having more deaths per capita than the US. Its not a poke at the US, but to remind us that there are other countries out there, and they too have similar issues to contend with. And wether the rate is high OR low.. its still an issue that the particular country faces. Its not a competition.
Also you might want to read the part where its being written from a more 'looking inward at ourselves perspective' than any want to have my post being insulting to anyone.
What could I possibly be seeking to achieve by insulting people?
Cheers
Grahame0 -
Grahame, good stuff. Point taken. Murder rate is not an issue at all, it's not a problem, it's nothing but a fact of life. There's nothing you can do you to stop people from killing each other on occasion, the least a society can do is to equalize the chances of those who can't protect themselves physically. That's point number two, point number one is in my signature.
As far as "'looking inward at ourselves perspective'" - well, learn to take some criticism [:D]0 -
GraHamEE
-You are unAmerican.
Dug0 -
duh
[:)]0 -
Yessss....
I am totally unAmerican..
I am Australian... I'm not American at all.... who would have thunk?
LOL
So you think I don't like Arericans... well some people just see what they want to see with their rose coloured glasses.
Next you will be accusing me of being part of the anti-gun lobby!0 -
quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
I wrote a friend that moved to Sydney when this was posted. This was her reply;
"Yeah, most likely it's true. People here are pretty dumb and uptight about $#&@ like that".
It's such a nanny state that you are fined A$500 if you put your arm out an automobile window. No kidding.[xx(]
So, obviously they don't use hand signals there...0 -
About a year ago one of my Dad's WW-2 vet VFW buds passed on and his family held an estate auction. Included in the auction was a inert WW-2 Pineapple Frag grenade that all this man's kids and grandkids had grown up playing with.
Some yardbird called the cops and the Coffeyville Ks. PD showed up and confiscated it.
Since it wouldn't blow up BY ITSELF, they blew it up w/their OWN EXPLOSIVES.
How stupid is THAT?0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
43 comments