Originally Posted By: GaznazdiakIt's even crazier than you could imagine Bad Dawg, the firearms legislation here has sunk to the completely bizarre.
It is legal for me to own, for example, my Howa 1500 which, fitted with it's Hawke Sidewinder 10-50x60 scope and fed my tuned hand-loads can reliably give rabbits the good news at 400m and foxes out to 600m, or a person sized object out to at least 1000m.
If, however, I was found in possession of a completely inert, non-functional replica of that same rifle, I would not only lose all my firearms, I would face between 7 and 10 years in prison.
Replica guns are considered a totally prohibited item, and as such attract the same penalties as being caught with a fully automatic, fully functional, assault rifle or M60 machine gun.
This is a result, in my opinion, of the population demographics here with 89% of the population living in cities, and the growing number of political correctness worshipping, tree-hugging vegans who have no conception of rural life and what is involved in producing the food they seem to think magically appears in their local supermarkets, and decades of knee-jerk legislation chasing the ever growing city votes.
For example, to be allowed to purchase any semi-auto centerfire rifle, you not only have to have a registered business engaged in vertebrate pest control, you also have to provide documentary proof of current contracts for said work.
In the state of Victoria, with a population of 5.8 million people there is reportedly a total of 17 people licenced to own such firearms. You even need to provide special reasons to apply for permission to own a pump action shotgun.
If you own a rifle like the Ruger 77/44 that fires handgun ammunition, you have to provide documentary proof, registration papers etc proving that you own a firearm chambered for that round, to be able to buy ammo for it.
We are not even allowed to defend ourselves here anymore.
Just last year in Victoria a farmer and his wife were confronted with a home invasion by an knife wielding ice addict. The farmer used an unloaded .22 to confront the criminal. Guess who ended in the most trouble.
http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/49270...fe-at-his-home/
Regards,
hm
