Real & Toy Guns Banned, Knives Banned .... Forks & Spoons Next

[Rev.Cambeul]

Street weapons banned

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/street-weapons-banned/story-e6frea8c-1225898176895

WEAPONS such as knuckledusters, flick knives and electronic shock devices will be almost impossible to import under tough laws to be announced today by the Gillard Government.

Switching the election focus to law and order, Labor will release a list of 22 weapons - including ballistic knives, butterfly knives, gas-filled shark darts and body armour - that will effectively be banned.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said the move would help make streets safer. "It will mean fewer fatalities and injuries by knives and other weapons," he said.

Mr O'Connor said an elected Gillard Government would immediately impose "an extremely hard test" requiring anyone wanting to import the weapons to prove a lawful domestic purpose.

"There are almost no legitimate purposes for many of these weapons," he said.

"We have to make it very, very difficult to import such weapons."

The list also includes extendable batons, flails, non-ceremonial maces, sheath knives, trench knives and hand or foot claws.

It will also be announced today that state police ministers agreed four weeks ago to review their laws on possession and regulation of knives and weapons, to create uniform national laws.

The package is aimed at appealing to rising voter fears about knife crime.

"The community is very concerned about the prevalence of knives and knife attacks," Mr O'Connor said.

"We want to reduce the number of such knives, reduce the easy access, reduce the capacity to conceal weapons and reduce the level of crime."

The promise comes as Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott both take their campaigns to Melbourne today.

The Government believes existing laws that require a letter from police and a permit from Customs before weapons can be imported have failed, with 16,700 bladed weapons confiscated by Customs last year.

Mr O'Connor said the new approach would give Customs more power by forcing importers to prove a legal purpose. "We will reduce quite dramatically the number of knives because it's going to be very hard to demonstrate a legal purpose for some of these," he said.

[Rev.Cambeul]

(Opposition) Coalition Leader Tony Abbott promises to crack down on gangs

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/coalition-leader-tony-abbott-promises-to-crack-down-on-gangs/story-e6frfku0-1225898374041?from=public_rss

A COALITION Government will crack down on gang warfare and knife crime if it wins the election, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott today promised to establish a national violent gangs database to track the activities of malicious groups around the country.

A similarly-named squad, set up under the auspices of the Australian Crime Commission, also would be created to lead the fight against violent gangs.

The list of banned knives would be extended and "tougher" uniform penalties put in place for people who carry knives, Mr Abbott said.

Extra funding for metal detectors would be made available.

Mr Abbott said many major gangs, involved in drug trafficking and "horrific" outbreaks of violence, operated nationally.

"Plainly there is a lot of street crime which is just random ... but a very significant percentage of the drug trafficking in this country is gang related," he said in Melbourne.

"There is a lot of associated criminal activity."

Through the Council of Australian Governments, the Coalition will seek a national standard on the quantities involved in the trafficking and possession of illicit drugs offences.

Drug offenders should be dealt with consistently by judicial systems across the nation so that there were no legal or definitional loopholes between states and territories, Mr Abbott said.

"Justice and policing has not been a priority of the Rudd-Gillard governments," he said.

"Labor promised to increase the Australian Federal Police by 500 officers, but this has not occurred."

[Sinn]

Any Australian with an interest in collecting/owning edged weapons (knives/daggers/swords) should join the Australasian Knife Collectors: http://www.knivesaustralia.com.au/akc-homepage.html

$30 a year and you have the benefits of being a bona fide knife collector, with exemptions to most prohibited knife laws.

[Jim]

happy to live in the US but I know they are trying to same here

[Rev.Cambeul]

Toy guns will have to be licensed in Queensland under new firearms laws

By Robyn Ironside From:The Courier-Mail August 04, 2010

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/toy-guns-will-have-to-be-licensed-in-queensland-under-new-firearms-laws/story-e6frfku0-1225900889228?from=public_rss

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.

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 http://www.police.qld.gov.au 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.