i was part of a group that re enacted 1860 nothing allowed in camp that wasnt around back then and we shot guns and used bows and arrows and it was great
guns are not a problem
emotions are
Ive never gotten into that, but I saw an encampment when I was at Grants farm in St Louis. It looked like a lot of fun
jtlextreme: we have looked at our guns laws in this country and they show that an armed community is a polite community. Our stats say that the states with the weakest gun control laws are the safest. We would be ignorant to change that. Unfortunately Rebecca Peters with her emotional blather and her like cloud that.
it is only her opinion and her stats, the same could be said of you
rocketqueen: it is only her opinion and her stats, the same could be said of you
LOL....what stats I am very familiar with Miss Peters oh sure she can compare us to other countries all she wants but to compare the US to England or Aus is laughable and naive. We have a much larger populace.
Seems to me that people that don't live in the USofA want us to be more like them.... I don't want to live in a third world country. I like living here because of the freedoms we have. Where else can a person have the choices that Americans have. I own guns, drive trucks and go to nudie bars because I can. Don't whine to me or even at me because you gave your rights away.
MELBOURNE -- The Victorian Police force has misrepresented the extent of crime in an effort to gain more money and powers, according to a report released on August 4 by the Federation of Community Legal Centres.
The report states that the police campaign has been assisted by the media. “Dependency on police for information means that many journalists are careful not to antagonise police by writing critical stories.”
The report expresses concern at the way the police use crime statistics to push for increases in power and resources. One example is a speech by chief commissioner Kel Glare in April 1992 in which he stated that the crime problem in Victoria was “one of the worst in the Western world, and as a police we are losing the battle”. Glare said that he believed Victoria needed 1500 to 2000 more police and he could place an extra 1000 immediately.
Glare's figures were based on a 1989 study by the Australian Institute of Criminology which compared crime rates in 17 developed countries. The chief commissioner failed to point out two factors which resulted in Victoria being placed high in the survey. Australia is by far the most urbanised of the countries surveyed, and this makes a marked difference in the recording of crime. In addition the survey was done in an Australian summer and European winter. Summer crime rates are about 40% higher than winter crime rates.
Police exaggerate crime to protect their own interests. Comments made last year by the secretary of the Police Association, Senior Sergeant Danny Walsh, in response to predicted police budget cuts,
typify this approach: “My advice to the people of Victoria is that they should sleep with one eye open and one hand on a baseball bat, because this police force will not be able to protect them”.
“ After years of stories exaggerating the incidence of crime, many people now live with a fear of crime which is out of proportion to the reality”, says the report. In a 1987 Bureau of Statistics survey, 73% thought there was a high rate of crime in Victoria but only 18% thought their local area had a high crime rate. This “sharp difference between people's direct experience of crime and their overall perception ... is largely shaped by the police-driven media”.
The report paints a much less alarming picture about crime. It cites figures from the Bureau of Statistics which show an increase of only 7% in major crimes from 1986-87 to 1990-91.
Glare has actually said publicly that “I have been ... in part responsible for the creation of the fear of crime and I have done that quite deliberately and dispassionately ... fear of crime is unjustified for the majority of people in the sense that they will not become victims ...”
The report points out that both major parties have fallen over themselves to give the police what they want. In response to a police campaign for increased powers to deal with weapons, the government agreed even though it was shown that the police figures on knife attacks were wrong. “When the legislation was proposed legal services and the Victorian Council For Civil Liberties complained that the legislation was unnecessarily draconian and could result in people being charged for carrying objects that were not weapons. The legislation was passed and as a result police charged dozens of people with wearing studded belts to keep their pants up.”
According to the report, a mere 1.57% of all offences are against the person. Statistics have time and again shown that violent crime is most often perpetuated where the victim knows the offender.
“A substantial amount of police time is used responding to calls relating to domestic violence”, states the report. “However, research indicates that police do not assist women when they attend because of attitudes which attach inappropriate stereotypes to male and female behaviour. Police refuse to lay criminal charges even when there is evidence of serious assaults and the victim wants the perpetrator charged.”
The police inaction on domestic violence should be compared with their zeal in other areas. One example is Operation Noah, the annual drugs phone-in. “For a decade police told the public
that Operation Noah was catching the Mr Bigs dealing in hard drugs. An analysis done by the Federation of Community Legal Centres found that the charges arising out of the phone-in were overwhelmingly for the use and possession of marijuana.”
The report recommends that the police receive no increase in funding in the next state budget and that police numbers be cut by 20% over five years. It also recommends measures to make the police more accountable to the public, such as an external complaints tribunal. It calls for more money to be spent on support services such as the child exploitation unit, domestic violence services and liaison with the Koori and gay communities. At present these services receive a mere 1.38% of the half billion dollars for police in the last budget.
The report criticises the increase in police powers and funding by the Labor government, pointing out that this is being done at the expense of other areas such as health, education, housing and employment -- which, if better provided, would
help to reduce the amount of crime.
From: Australian News, Green Left Weekly issue #66 12 August 1992.
Another article I found in regards of defense of the 2nd Amendment.Not written by me.
Defense of the Second Amendment is now more critical than ever, I think that is obvious to anyone reading here or on other hunting/shooting sites. Only the absolute Clueless could live and breath right now and not feel the urgency surrounding our Constitutionally affirmed Right to Keep and Bear.
We can argue the distinction between blackhawks and hunting rifles in today's context but at the time of the writing of the 2nd Amendment the WHOLE POINT of it was to secure the veridicality that there would NEVER be any arms control by the goverment for the purposes expressly defined by the 2nd Amendment. We can see by the laws written in the time that has passed since how watered down that sentiment has become.
Barring everything in this Nation going in the proverbial toilet, and we come to armed conflict with one another, we ALL must be part of something that defends our Right to Keep and Bear, now more than ever. The Framers KNEW this was an important part of Freedom as it guarantees our ability to defend ourselves from foreign agression as well as domestic violence and tyranical goverment.
It's my opinion that BOTH sides of the political coin believe this to be absolutely TRUE. Which is WHY our side strives to preserve the Right, and the opposition's side strives to strike it down. There IS an agenda to completely disarm the American People so that the American People can be more easily "less feared". It's been in the works for decades now.
The common logic is for everyone to join the NRA. Many do, but many, many more also do not.
There are 80 million gun owners in the USA, and only 4 million NRA members.
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