This is very interesting despite what we hear from other sources. The
writer is a Tasmanian
Officer who asks anonymity.
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I was fascinated reading the Canadian response to gun registration.
I must admit to having favoured gun registration until I witnessed the
extraordinary and to my mind undemocratic gun grab by the present
Australian Government in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre here in
Tas.
Yes the murder of 35 unarmed innocents is tragic, but as one of the park
rangers was heard to say in the aftermath; “If the “f******g govt had
permitted us to continue carrying weapons instead of trying to portray a
squeaky clean crime free environment to the tourists maybe we could have
stopped this mad man.” I agree 100% with that Park Officer. They have
always been armed and carry out quite often dangerous joint operations
with
police. They were effectively disarmed some years ago by a system with
its
head buried in the sand, the very same system advocated disarming police
officers also but thank God our union was strong enough to resist the
liberals.

Anyway, things have at last settled into a more realistic view with
respect to present day gun ownership. The Federal Govt buy back scheme
cost the taxpayers billions of dollars, armed hold-ups of security vans
carrying “bought back” weapons to disposal areas netted criminals an
arsenal they would under normal circumstances have only dreamt of.
Naturally, many so called “destroyed” firearms have been turning up at
armed robberies and murder
scenes. The fatal flaw with the government destruction policy was, they
removed responsibility from the police to oversee it and handed it to
private security firms for fear of a public backlash on an already over
indulgence of tax payers money. Naturally, some of the private companies
don’t have the necessary stops and checks in place to guarantee 100%
honesty.

After all of the above, the true figures in Australia with respect
to violent crime is about what it was prior to the buy back. Naturally
the gun reformists say violence is down and therefore it was a good
thing
and the other side claim increased incidents of gun related crime that
leaves people who could previously defend themselves defenceless. Both
sides have some merit, the reason for the “decrease” in murder rate is
simple. We have not had another Port Arthur, if we did and 35 lives were
lost the figures would be static. On the other hand, the people who are
now
“defenceless”, in the main are bank staff. All banks had to hand in
their
own protective weapons, this netted the government some several hundred
hand guns. What they don’t say is, bank staff have not been permitted to
use a firearm for over 20 years.
They were simply wrapped in grease paper and kept in the safe. Those
hand guns ended up being given to the Papua New Guinea Police Service as
part of our UN charter to “civilise” the country. Whatever the heck that
means.
Last time I was there it was more civilised than Sydney, unless you
happened to get on the wrong side of “The Rascals” in Port Moresby. It
was
an interesting
secondment for six months and one I used to recommend to my classes at
the Academy. I think it is important for a police officer to be as
culturally aware as possible and secondment to a foreign Police Service
is
perhaps the best way to get it. We are now sending officers to East
Timor,
if it was 10 years ago my name would have been on the list.