Do we have an "only in Australia" thread yet?

[Blue]

We have an only in the US and an only in the UK thread...this out of Aussie land!

Toy guns will have to be licensed in Queensland under new firearms laws | News.com.au

Toy guns will have to be licensed in Queensland under new firearms laws
By Robyn Ironside From: The Courier-Mail August 04, 2010 8:59AM 32


Items that look like a gun to be licensed
Toy guns included

ANY ITEM that looks like a gun will have to be licensed under several changes to the Weapons Act being considered by the Queensland State Government.

Even guns made out of materials as unlikely as soap or plastic may have to be kept under lock and key if they could "reasonably be taken to be a weapon".

The draft act says an imitation is a "reasonable copy" of a weapon that is not capable of causing death or injury.

"If it looks like a gun and feels like a gun, it will have to be licensed," said a government source.

"We just want to know where they are."

It is unclear how the draft affects toy guns.

Failure to license an imitation weapon will carry a maximum $4500 fine under the proposals and incorrect storage carries a penalty of $750.


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The proposed changes will also impose restrictions on the ownership of laser pointers, tougher penalties for selling items such as crossbows, bullet proof vests and knuckledusters without the appropriate licence, and stricter rules on firearm storage. In certain circumstances, religion will be a lawful excuse for carrying a knife and police who take their service-issue firearms home will be exempted.

A discussion draft of the Act will be available on the Queensland Police website today and Police Minister Neil Roberts encouraged responses.

But firearm owners' groups have condemned the measures as cumbersome and misguided.

Christopher Ray from the Law Abiding Firearms Owners said legitimate owners were being "regulated out of existence".

"We just wanted some of the burden, some of the bureaucracy and some of the paperwork taken off our backs," Mr Ray said. "Instead, they're complicating it further for law-abiding people. If we make a single minor mistake we can lose our (gun) licence for five years."

He said LAFO was also opposed to police being given "free rein" to take their guns home and leave them on the bedside table.

Geoff Jones, state president of the Sporting Shooters Association, said the crackdown on imitation weapons risked making "otherwise law-abiding people into criminals".

Mr Roberts said a requirement for permanently deactivated public monuments such as weapons on display in RSL buildings to be registered or licensed had been removed from the draft act.


Read more: Toy guns will have to be licensed in Queensland under new firearms laws | News.com.au

[gunnut]

I thought we have an "only in Australia" thread already. Or maybe that was "only in New Zealand" I was thinking of... It's easy to get them mixed up. Ozzie, kiwi...they all look the same.

"If it looks like a gun and feels like a gun, it will have to be licensed," said a government source.

What if it doesn't look like a gun and doesn't feel like a gun, but launches a projectile via chemical energy?

I'm gonna make a type of handgun that looks like a camcorder so people with camcorders will need to register their camcorders with the all-wise government. Or even better....guns that look like iPods and iPhones :))

[captain]

Hi 7th,

Yes there is an "only in Australia" thread somewhere and I think I started it but it would be necro by now.

Re your article, Queensland has resisted and lagged somewhat behind in enacting these sort of laws as they are already in place in the other states.

It only takes some kid to do something slightly stupid and the anti gunners pounce.
The media beat it up and the bureaucracy including senior police swing into action to make the world a safer place.
If there is an election in the air the law and order issue is always good for a vote grab.

Last year plastic toy guns were banned from sale at the Royal Perth agriculture show.

Read this and watch the news clip vid at the bottom as this sort of BS is coming to a town near you.
Royal Show toy gun sparks police raid in Lathlain | Perth Now

And Gunnut, we may look similar but we sound very different, in fact we can hardly understand them at times but neither can anyone else.;)

Cheers

[StevoJH]

And to think it was only 10-15 years ago that my mates and I would run around "shooting" each other all up and down the street with our cap guns.

Admittedly we never actually pointed them at each other. For some reason our parents, including one neighbour who was a police officer, drilled it into our heads that pointing anything that looked like gun at each other and pulling the trigger was a bad idea.....

[gunnut]

This Bluetooth Headset Makes You Look Suicidal
9:00 PM - August 4, 2010 - By Rico Mossesgeld - Source : Tom's Guide US

Stick this gun to your ear and pull the trigger to take a call.

Mike Haeg, the "mayor of America's smallest town", decided to make a statement about his hatred for talking on the phone. So he used his DIY experience to cram the innards of a Bluetooth headset into a kid's toy plastic gun. When a call comes in, all he has to do is pick up the gun, stick it to his ear, and pull the trigger to answer.

Now Mr. Haeg is debating whether or not to paint his creation so that it looks like a toy gun, well aware of the potential danger: "I get equally giddy and frightened by the panic that this could cause should someone not notice that the gun is a fake or should I accidentally take a call while at the bank."

Clearly, this isn't a headset for gun-crazy communities, where confusion with gun-looking objects can be fatal. It would be hilarious though to see someone walking down the road in rapt conversation, looking like his a few seconds away from ending his own life.

More details are available on Mr. Haeg's own blog. His project is a repackage of this DIY retro headset.

What can I say...great minds think alike...

This will sure be a best seller in Australia.

This Bluetooth Headset Makes You Look Suicidal

[captain]

Sometimes you just have to wonder what on earth goes on in the universities that train our teachers who are then entrusted with the education of our kids.

I would love to know what thoughts and justification the teacher below used to come up with this execise and what was she trying to achieve.

Australian teacher rapped over terror assignment
(AFP) – 5 hours ago

SYDNEY — An Australian teacher was reprimanded after giving students an assignment to plan an extremist attack designed to inflict maximum casualties, officials said Wednesday.

The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School class in Western Australia were told to plot against "an unsuspecting Australian community", with the goal "to kill the most innocent civilians in order to get your message across".

The students, aged between 15 and 17, had to explain their choice of victim, location, time and weapon, as well as describe the effects their method would have on the human body.

The assignment, which was designed to test pupils' ability to apply what they had learned about terrorism in a society and environment lesson to "real life", was quickly withdrawn after an angry backlash from parents.

"It was certainly an inappropriate method of exploring the issue of conflict and had the potential to offend and disturb parents and impressionable students," said Western Australia state education minister Liz Constable.

Sharyn O'Neill, head of the state's education department, said it was "inappropriate, it was insensitive and rightly, people are upset".

She apologised to one family in particular with a girl in the class who had lost a relative in the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

"We are very sorry for the pain and discomfort that this situation has caused," said O'Neill. "Certainly no ill was meant by this assessment task."

School principal Terry Martino said the teacher was "relatively inexperienced" and it was a "well-intentioned but misguided attempt to engage the students".

Source; AFP: Australian teacher rapped over terror assignment

[Blue]

Sounds like someone needs a career change.

[captain]

Sounds like someone needs a career change.

Won't happen!
The teacher's union wouldn't allow it, the West Austarlian director of education has described it as an unfortunate mistake and the teacher concerned will recieve some counselling.

Sleep easy Mum and Dad, your little darlings are in caring, safe hands whilst they are being prepared to take their place in the world.

Cheers.

[bigross86]

I think it was actually a good idea, though flawed in it's execution. What is a war game, if not a plan of how to plan how the enemy is going to act? This is the same thing. I just think that it should have been done at university level, not high school level, but as an experiment, I think it makes perfect sense.

Sleep easy Mum and Dad, your little darlings are in caring, safe hands whilst they are being prepared to take their place in the world.

That's exactly right. If even one of these kids decides to become a cop and uses what he learned to prevent an attack, it was worth it. The fact that the teacher was misguided in their choice of exercises is unfortunate, but to claim that the teacher is causing harm or damage to the children? I disagree

[captain]

These are kids and I can not imagine what subject this exercise may have been part of but in any instance they are, as you suggest, too young to be considering what goes on in the mind of the enemy to the detailed level suggested.

told to plot against "an unsuspecting Australian community", with the goal "to kill the most innocent civilians in order to get your message across".
The students, aged between 15 and 17, had to explain their choice of victim, location, time and weapon, as well as describe the effects their method would have on the human body.

There was also another furore this week in another high school where kids in a legal studies class were asked to prepare a defence for Bin Laden.
I could understand that would be a relevant exercise for a legal studies class and would be a hell of a defence to come up with but I question if high school kids have the evidence and skills to to make that exercise worthwhile.

It is an unfortunate fact that young kids are increasingly being subjected to the highly politicised views of teachers, particularly those teachers recently out of university.

Cheers.