Thanks for the apology it is accepted!
But when you say:
"But you have to understand how different our countries and people are" - Honestly I'm almost shocked.
I always thought of Australians as kind of like the rugged individualists that made America a great nation.
Aussies I thought were similar and there was a time when I seriously thought of moving there.
Now that I'm older guns don't mean as much as they used to - But still I'm so used to living under the
admittedly sometimes dangerous protection of the Second Amendment - So that I could hardly imagine living in a
country that doesn't offer this right {self-defense , even by lethal force if deemed necessary}.
And one other thought for today as I will be away from my computer for awhile - Mexico, next door to the US, also has rather strict gun laws - And Mexico probably has some of the greatest number of armed gangs and drug dealers in the world. I know you might say they are getting them from the US - But if Mexican drug cartels couldn't get them here , they would find a way.
Again the same cliche applies:
"When Guns are Outlawed - Only Outlaws will Have Guns!"
-Peace
In defense of Aussies,
I will use my second eldest son as an example.
He is 24, got one son, one more on the way.
He is a builder, loves cars, and bikes. Typical Aussie Kid.
And, I also accept while us Aussies have folks like my sons, there are exceptions in today day and age that are different.
I expect it is the same in the US.
Anyway, this is an Aussie , or at least the Aussies that I have raised according to the values passed down to me by my Dad.
My son was driving into town one day, and stopped at a Red light, He looked across and saw a bloke on the ground, getting a belting from 2 blokes. He watched for a few seconds and the blokes did not relent their bashing.
So, Zack being who he is, wound down the window, and yelled, hey, you have made you point leave him alone.
they yelled back, Get Fucked idiot, and kept kicking the bloke.
OK so at this point he sighed and all he saw was, 2 onto 1, the bloke is down, he has copped a beating, enough is enough.
So Zack pulled on the handbrake in the middle of the intersection, and much to the panic of his girlfriend at the time got out.
He walked towards the fight and said, I said he has had enough, now fuck off and leave him alone. One bloke bolted, the other looked at him and pulled a knife and started walking towards him.
Zack just laughed, walked back to his car and grabbed out of the back what he called, an "Alabama Slammer" which is a builders framing hammer, a bloody great long thing. He turned and walked back and said to the bloke righto mate bring it on. The bloke bolted, Zack helped the bloke on the ground.
Another time, and this one put me in my place big time.
One night he didn't come home, he arrived middaysish the next day and I said, "Where have you been you little bugger you didn't ring"
He said, Naa couldn't, I got locked up for the night by the cops.
OK I said, ill bite, so what happened.
He said, well I came out o this night club and there were these three Mary's giving this bloke a belting.
I asked, "Mary's?" Yeah Marys he said. Still not knowing what he was on about I said..
What do you mean Mary's, you mean Gay blokes.
No he said, you know Mary's those big blokes from New Zealand with tattoos on their faces.
Suddenly it dawned on me, I said, You mean Mouries,
Yeah he said, those big New Zealand blokes.
Finally understanding I asked him, So how did you end up locked up.
He said, well 3 onto one isn't fair so I hopped in and helped him.
he said eventually the cops arrived and they all got locked up. As an aside, he had 3 broken ribs before the fight from a motorbike fall.
So my dad brain kicked in and I said, Jesus mate, that's great, but that was a hell of a risk.
I can understand you might do that for your best mate, or a family member, but you didn't even know this bloke.
He looked at me as if I had said something dumb and said.
Dad, that bloke was someones best mate.
I confess I teared up, what can you say to that.
All my 4 sons think like this.
But here is the point.
At no time did it, or would it ever occur to him to want, need, expect or require a gun.
If my boys and I visited your house on a holiday, I introduced you as my friend from the US.
if 15 mins later you were attacked, all four of my sons and I would fight our way to hospital in your defense as a mate.
But not once would it occur to any of us to look for a Gun.
This is what it is to be an Aussie.
As for the gun comment, We will just have to agree to disagree