Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 22nd January 2008, 12:11 PM

Department of Justice?

Within the Commonwealth system of government?

Possibly you mean the Attorney-General's Department, Gavin?

Some states have a Department of Justice, but on the commonwealth level the responsibilities for law and justice are handled by the Attorney-General's Department.

Perhaps you could explain to me why it would be so desirable for us to have uniform weapons legislation here in Australia. I'm probably little bit slow in my understanding of what the benefits of such legislation might be for collectors and students of weaponry, and for sporting shooters and other users of weapons.

What would be proposed as the normative model?

The moderate legislation of Tasmania, or the draconian laws of New South Wales and Victoria?

Could we expect to see the governments and bureaucracies of New South Wales and Victoria accept the more relaxed regulation of Tasmania ? Could we expect to see these two states relax their grip on the prohibitions that they have taken 50 or more years to gain?

I rather think not.

In the event of any uniformity of legislation occurring in Australia in respect of weapons legislation, what would happen would be the adoption by all states of a uniform draconian code which reflected the most stringent restrictions present in all individual states.

In my opinion uniform legislation is the last thing we want.

It would be far more sensible for interested parties to work on a state by state basis to try to bring some moderation and common sense to our weapons legislation. However, in the current political climate probably the best we can hope for is that we do not lose any of the "privileges" which we presently have.

Never forget:- the things that might be considered as "rights" in some other countries are written into law as PRIVILEGES in Australia.

Incidentally, Australia has six states, not seven. The Northern Territory is a territory, as the name suggests, and so is the Australian Capital Territory; there's another little territory too, that most people tend to overlook:- Jervis Bay Territory.

22nd January 2008, 12:11 PM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,987	Department of Justice? Within the Commonwealth system of government? Possibly you mean the Attorney-General's Department, Gavin? Some states have a Department of Justice, but on the commonwealth level the responsibilities for law and justice are handled by the Attorney-General's Department. Perhaps you could explain to me why it would be so desirable for us to have uniform weapons legislation here in Australia. I'm probably little bit slow in my understanding of what the benefits of such legislation might be for collectors and students of weaponry, and for sporting shooters and other users of weapons. What would be proposed as the normative model? The moderate legislation of Tasmania, or the draconian laws of New South Wales and Victoria? Could we expect to see the governments and bureaucracies of New South Wales and Victoria accept the more relaxed regulation of Tasmania ? Could we expect to see these two states relax their grip on the prohibitions that they have taken 50 or more years to gain? I rather think not. In the event of any uniformity of legislation occurring in Australia in respect of weapons legislation, what would happen would be the adoption by all states of a uniform draconian code which reflected the most stringent restrictions present in all individual states. In my opinion uniform legislation is the last thing we want. It would be far more sensible for interested parties to work on a state by state basis to try to bring some moderation and common sense to our weapons legislation. However, in the current political climate probably the best we can hope for is that we do not lose any of the "privileges" which we presently have. Never forget:- the things that might be considered as "rights" in some other countries are written into law as PRIVILEGES in Australia. Incidentally, Australia has six states, not seven. The Northern Territory is a territory, as the name suggests, and so is the Australian Capital Territory; there's another little territory too, that most people tend to overlook:- Jervis Bay Territory.