by GLS_1956 » 09 Jan 2017, 5:20 am
Over the last few years I have been reading, and commenting on, gun forums in Australia, Canada, and the U.K.. Yes I'm an American, I live in the middle of the USA, Oklahoma, where we have minimal interference from the State when it comes to our exercising our Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
From an American view point each of these countries have their quirks. You in Australia are denied semiautomatic rifles and shotguns but are allowed manually cycled rifles, however it appears that the only repeating shotguns you are allowed are lever action designs, while when it comes to handguns you Aussies are permitted all methods of operation or designs as long as an arbitrary barrel length is met, this seems to be the case for Canadians as well. But for the poor Britain who wishes to shoot ah handgun not only do the guns need a ridiculously long barrel but they must also have an asinine extension projecting rearward from the pistol. To their good fortune the English shooters are allowed to have semiautomatic rimfire rifles as well as semiauto shotguns, and the use of silencers/moderators/suppressors is somewhat common in the U.K. And the Canadian gunowner has fewer stumbling blocks put in their path than either island nation.
But one or two points that come across as a constant with all three nations is the qualifying for gun ownership and government mandated storage requirements. Now I fully agree that persons should know how to safely handle and use a gun, any gun including air guns. I myself was trained by my father who was trained by both his father and the United States Army in the proper use of firearms, and I have given instructions to a number of people over the years in which I feel I gave good service to in the tutoring. I have also known people who have had no more instructing in gun handling than what they could read in the public library, this was long before the internet, and what information that came with the gun when they purchased it and they have shown themselves to be good and safe with their guns. The situations we face here in the US run into is multifold. Not only is gun ownership an enumerated Constitutional right, but training is not always readily available nor do all parts of the country have a range close at hand.
The point of requiring secure lockable storage while a good idea, one I do follow to a large degree, it runs afoul when you realize that in many cases here in the US you'd be trying to mandate that someone who owns only one gun, say a 22 rifle or shotgun, to purchase a steel safe that cost more than the total cost of their on or two guns. Oh and when it comes to an American Citizen allowing a government official in their home to inspect such a situation you're looking at a whole new batch of violating an American's Constitutional rights
I've been asked: "How many guns do you need to have?" My answer remains the same: "One more."
Could work against you... 
