Australian Firearms licensing

[Dane Sorensen]

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Hey Stomper - you are indeed correct - Bundy IS my preferred poison. However, not the Yellow label or Over Proof - both sub par. I like the aged offerings, Special Vat, Small Batch Reserve, Red Extra Smooth, Blenders Edition and so on.
You could call me a "snobby bastard" Bundy drinker - and I'd wear it with pride.
The "Fosters" reference is also correct - very little of it is drunk in Australia. Here it's rubbish but surprisingly, it seems to be a much better beer when I tried it in the US. I suspect it's a local US product, labeled Fosters.

 

[Lilhigbee]

Foster's (and Cooper's) is what the Aussies give the tourists to keep them from drinking the good beer!!

 

[msgriff]

South Australia is also outlawing bow and crossbow hunting at the end of the year. Probably won't be long until only the king's men are allowed to hunt with firearms, which would lead to justification to completely disarm the citizens of all weapons.

 

[Stomper]

I feel you on the Hippy bit - I've a mix in my own family. Vegans, vegetarians but predominately sensible people - the meat eaters.
If you're coming back this way, I might be in a position to take you bush after camels - 600 to a 1000 plus miles to get to them but worth it. ......... If I still have any guns.

Fun fact: "vegetarian" is an old American Indian word that means, "bad hunter".

Hahaha, yep, it would have been as an endearment. Bogan, like Bastard, can be used in a range of ways from a reference to my best mate (Bud) through the whole range to the worst bastard ever.
As with many terms, inflection and context tell the story.
"Bastard" has so many connotations in the Australian vernacular. I don't know enough about American slang to draw a parallel, unfortunately.
"Bogan" less so. Most people would see it as in line with your "Trailer Trash" but as we Aussies love to put ourselves as well as our friends, down. Bogan certainly has a positive take too.
"God, we're a bunch of Bogans" for instance.

Ya left out, "Yobbo's"…. gotta love them, too!

 

[Dane Sorensen]

Far from boring me. I appreciate a perspective that I was not that aware of. One thing
that grabbed me especially hard was the costs of owning a firearm. And the hand
loading being classed ammunition manufacturing. Curious to know how available
are ranges and how affordable. And sadly, I had two R & R opportunities whilst
playing Army, with Australia being a choice. Instead I opted for Bangkok. Well,
it was kinda fun.

Hi Ruger Rich.
Surprisingly enough, our range fees are more than reasonable - probably because they are predominately run by shooters.
A now closed (by Police for actually stupid breaches of regulations by the owner) underground range near me was $420 per year and $16 per shoot. It was a privately owned/operated set up and pretty good for here.
On a 1 to 10 scale of what I saw in the US, probably around a 2 or 3. Here? easily an 8 to 9.
The outdoors ranges of up to 500 metres range from $100 to $350 per year with a $10 to $25 per shoot, to cover targets.
Bizarrely, we have a Commonwealth Sports Grant System whereby Shooting Clubs can apply for and receive funding for a lot of the major infrastructure - volunteers, fund raisers and donations covering pretty much everything else.
We also have a much different "Shooter acceptance/understanding" mentality in Australia in general.
In Western Australia, with a population of 2,930,000 as of the end of 2023, we had around 90,000 licensed shooters - unlicensed being an unknown criminal element but I'd suspect pretty small. Probably much less than 10,000. (Based on absolutely no information other than my knowledge of crime/general society - so a gut feeling only)
That said, in an online petition to the State Government, we - the shooting community - managed to raise 32,234 signatures, the largest EVER petition in Western Australian history to that point, in an effort to have further consultation and input to the new Firearms Act 2024.
Our Labor Government chose to ignore it, after having been forced to repeal a hugely unpopular Indigenous Cultural Heritage act only garnering around 30,000 petitioners.
Governments.
You have the FBI harassing Parents Association meetings - hopefully for you, Trump will eviscerate your out of control Federal agencies of all ilk, ATF, FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security and more.

 

[Dane Sorensen]

Fun fact: "vegetarian" is an old American Indian word that means, "bad hunter".





Ya left out, "Yobbo's"…. gotta love them, too!

Hahahaha - well, I've been accused of being a bit of a Yobbo ...... again, given the circumstances - deserved.

 

[Dane Sorensen]

South Australia is also outlawing bow and crossbow hunting at the end of the year. Probably won't be long until only the king's men are allowed to hunt with firearms, which would lead to justification to completely disarm the citizens of all weapons.

It's just plain craziness. For the life of me, the only understanding I have is related to the NAZI's/Stalin/PolPot/Mao Zedong mob, disarming their people prior to establishing Dictatorships of Socialism/Communism.
We - the rest of the free (hahahaha how deluded am I) world NEED you lot to elect Trump. Then in four years time, someone who WILL continue to be a strong leader of the US.
I don't think most Americans really understand the impact your politics have on our countries.

 

[Dane Sorensen]

Fun fact: "vegetarian" is an old American Indian word that means, "bad hunter".





Ya left out, "Yobbo's"…. gotta love them, too!

I love the "Bad Hunter" comment too .....

 

[Dane Sorensen]

I'm sorry you've allowed your country to get that fcked. Maybe it's time for the guys with all the guns to get together and do something about it?

Won't happen, since life is still too good and easy.


Who said anything is wrong with them?

Yes, Sadly you're spot on. We HAVE allowed our own country to be changed right under our noses - and because of exactly what you said. Life IS far too good here - huge country, Small population = far too much ability to just let things slide past us.
I've said for a long time, "Our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness - our country is far too good to us"
Something over 26 million people in Australia, a country around 10% smaller than the lower 48 / of USA (have I got that right ??)
You Yanks have a great - GREAT - country.
We Australians have the BEST country.
I can take you to a hill in our outback, standing atop it, there is less than 100 people anywhere with in a 500 mile radius - in ANY direction.
I can probably do that in 3 or 4 non overlapping locations.

 

[Dane Sorensen]

Foster's (and Cooper's) is what the Aussies give the tourists to keep them from drinking the good beer!!

Mate, don't go telling everyone, the tourists will start storming local pubs demanding the good stuff .............

 

[Dane Sorensen]

They eliminated Australia for R&R when I was there, as too many guys were meeting good looking women and deciding to stay. Some went to Bangkok for fun and others to Hong Kong for a custom suit. I preferred to plow on and take my leave when I got back in the world.

Hahaha - Good looking women in Australia - never.
Funny, but not funny either is that US Servicemen and Australian Servicemen came to serious blows over just that - women - during the Pacific/Japanese WWII. Brisbane and Sydney were the epicentres from memory and I think US soldiers faced a temporary ban then, from R&R in certainly the Eastern States of Aus. I'd have to check, but I'm almost certain there were deaths on both sides sadly.
Bloody women - always causing trouble between mates hahahahaha (For the ladies on this site - NO, you know what drives men, we're never responsible, it's ALL your fault ........... Ironic tone here, just to be clear hahahaha)
Today, as it is in the US where some of your own natural born citizens profess hatred of your flag and country, we have people who should love OUR country but instead actually hate it. These are the idiots who stir up animosity within society and between allied countries with a common vision.
There has been flag burnings here, not just our own flag but the US flag as well. For that, I apologise.
I, like a true American, consider my flag to sacrosanct and see it as not just a symbol but a rallying banner.
We had Aboriginal soldiers in an Aboriginal Battalion during WWII, Aboriginal Soldiers in WWI. Fighting for my country, but more importantly, THIER country too.
The courage and strength of these Black Soldiers is more laudable when you see that Aboriginals were only bought into Citizenship by Proclamation of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 on the 26th of January 1949, five years after WWII. (Prior to that, we were - whites only - still British Citizens - Aboriginals were under a "Protectorate" and it was if not impossible then bloody difficult for ANY other ethnicity to gain entry or citizenship)
I wish this fact - Australian Citizenship - was promoted to create unity and kill racism here.

Like the US, I consider Australia's biggest strength is sadly also our biggest weakness.
Both our countries are far too good to us - if you work hard and keep your nose clean, anyone can succeed in both places. Now, 8 decades beyond WWII, hard work by the vast majority has built both countries to a point where even the malingers, lazy and opportunistic can thrive but blame "The System" for their perceived victimhood.
Whilst I won't brook ANY argument as to the better of the two countries - Australia IS the best(-: ...... - we here have a Social Security system (the Dole) that is out of control. Young fit people get around $300 to $450 a WEEK to do nothing, families much more. "I can't get a job" - and this has been a part of our system for pretty much ever. We have generational Dole Bludgers, as we call them - 3rd, 4th and 5th generations of families who think it's their right to have the Government pay them (yes, the Tax Payer).
The US I think, has a limit to that. Mind you - we're a pretty wealthy country and having traveled to South America and China, I still prefer to have a dole system as it makes all our lives better.

 

[Dungannon]

Hahaha - Good looking women in Australia - never.

Well said. Thank you for that Dane. [And I did visit Australia later, with my wife. After looking around at Bondi Beach, she decided we needed to move on.]

 

[Dane Sorensen]

Well said. Thank you for that Dane. [And I did visit Australia later, with my wife. After looking around at Bondi Beach, she decided we needed to move on.]

Yes, Bondi - and a lot of other beaches here in Australia, can be a bit of a challenge - even for Australian wives ..........

 

[Lilhigbee]

Hahaha - Good looking women in Australia - never.

You're kidding, right?? Or maybe you need to spend some time at Glenelg, on the beach during the day and on Jetty Road in the evening. The scenery is truly stunning at times!! Spent six weeks in February and March in a house on North Esplanade, the beach just across the street from the front windows. I'll never believe there aren't beautiful women in Oz, and a lot of them!!

 

[gmerkt]

Welcome to NWFA.

I took my Vietnam R&R to Sydney in 1971.

Mrs. Merkt and I were on a certain cruise some time back. There were a number of international pax. aboard. One night, a couple from Perth were seated at our dinner table. The fellow was a police officer and he went on and on about how successful gun control was in Australia. The next night, we sat with a couple from South Africa who'd recently emigrated to Australia. Their stories were about how badly law and order had deteriorated in So. Africa, which was their reason for emigration. They told about how they had to hire armed guards to go out to dine at night, etc. I couldn't help note the contrast in these two stories.

 

[Dane Sorensen]

You're kidding, right?? Or maybe you need to spend some time at Glenelg, on the beach during the day and on Jetty Road in the evening. The scenery is truly stunning at times!! Spent six weeks in February and March in a house on North Esplanade, the beach just across the street from the front windows. I'll never believe there aren't beautiful women in Oz, and a lot of them!!

Sarcasm mate - it's an Australian thing I guess. Perhaps, Irony, not sarcasm.Yes, I'm kidding - we are indeed fortunate as we do have beautiful women here.
Mind you, I've traveled a few countries around the world and there are beautiful women everywhere.
Perhaps our climate has something to do with the apparent abundance here ............
I've been to America a couple of time - strangely enough, Hollywood was NOT somewhere I'd recommend going to see beautiful women.
But the rest of the country - well, you have your share too - don't worry.

 

[AshWilliams]

Mate, don't go telling everyone, the tourists will start storming local pubs demanding the good stuff .............

My buddy had his own rendition of the Foster's marketing campaign here in the States back... I think it was the 90s. "Foster's: Australian for Budweiser."