"We should embrace gun control like Australia," some have said. Former President Barack Obama expressed his desire to see an Australian-like gun control system here in the United States.
The idea, you see, is that they think the Australian system works pretty well and we should totally go down that path, too.
In fact, many point to the nation's response to the Port Arthur massacre as evidence of what should be done in the aftermath of a mass killing involving a firearm and claim the country is so much safer because of it.
If that's so, why is it that security guards in a Melbourne neighborhood feel like they just have to have guns?
Private security guards patrolling housing estates in Melbourne’s outer west will start carrying guns before the end of the year as they face an unprecedented wave of violent home invasions, carjackings and machete attacks.
Torched stolen cars, high-speed chases, machete slashings and bloodied streets have become all too frequent in the city’s booming western fringe, where police are often stretched thin, and youth gangs are going to war.
“The escalation to firearms is because of what’s coming our way and the threats against our safety, against my team,” said Grant Burton, the owner of security company YPG Risk, whose night patrols are funded by housing estate residents.
“We have to ensure that our staff go home to their families. We are all residents of the west,” he said.
“We have no option but to go from baton to firearm.”
Early this month, youths driving a stolen car rammed one of the company’s vehicles in Manor Lakes, injuring the guard inside. Burton says staff regularly receive death threats from gang members and increasingly confront offenders armed with machetes and knives. In the past, Burton has needed stitches after his face was slashed with knuckle dusters. He’s also had a bottle smashed over his head.
Under current regulations, security guards are not allowed to carry controlled weapons such as capsicum spray or Tasers, but they can apply for a gun licence under strict conditions.
Now, I know someone out there will claim that it would have been so much worse without Australia's strict gun control laws, but that's just speculation on their part, no matter how certain they are of their claims.
That's because machetes, knives, and brass knuckles are all deadly weapons and can kill, while guns are never a sure bet for taking someone's life. There are a lot of variables that go into any attack, so it's really not possible to say that it would have been worse.
But I will say that in a case like that, it's always preferable to have people have the means to defend themselves.
This appears to be a pretty posh neighborhood. I mean, they have private security. You don't find that in Section Eight housing, now do you? You probably don't have private security in your neighborhood, either. Most of us don't, which is one more reason why we have guns. We can't outsource our security like the wealthy do.
So if this is happening in upper-class neighborhoods in Melbourne, what's happening in the 'hoods? How many people are being attacked with machetes and knives and have no ability to defend themselves because they can't get guns as easily as we can?
Really, no matter how strict your gun control measures might be, no matter how effective they are at keeping undesirable people unarmed, you can't just mandate that they behave. If you could, you wouldn't need gun control.
So, the rowdy of Australia are still rowdy. They're still violent, and they'll still lash out and hurt people.
Australia just made it so much harder for regular people to defend themselves.
Typical.
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