Passports

[Austin Carl Largan]

#150

John, I have eaten food cooked thus, patties thrown onto a dung fire, in my case it was Water Buffalo droppings. By the time the patties had finished cooking it was hard to differentiate between pattie cake or dung cake.Either way it made little difference as they both tasted the same and I am told they both had the same nutritional value.

Austin

[James Curry]

#123

Point taken, however I would like to mention that I have a legal right to protect myself in West Palm Beach, this also applies to my home. If there are intruders I am entitled to protect myself and my property, with force if necessary without fear of legal recriminations. I have a house in Wales also and one time I made inquiries as to what one can do if one becomes aware of an intruder, as in burglar or whatever. I was told that I should prepare a secure and safe place, such as a room with a secure door fitted with bolts all round, and if ever threatened, to retire there forthwith and call the police. DON'T attempt to protect yourself as this could lead to me being prosecuted by the police and sued by the intruder. I prefer the West Palm Beach solution; anyone intruding into my home will be greeted with the action end of my 'people greeter'. I am also permitted to 'stand my ground' if attacked in the street.

Austin

UK LAW.

The basic position is that if an intruder comes into your home, you can use reasonable force to defend your property, to defend yourself, to defend anybody in your home and to prevent crime from occurring.

As des said in another post make sure you do not stick the knife in the intruders back.

Sorry Austin, Is it the Second ammendment that says you have the right to bear arms?
Fair enough, but perhaps it needs to be up dated.
In all honesty who in there right mind needs a small arsenal at home.
Seriously who needs this in the house.
Big problem is the bad guy usually has a bigger gun.

AR15_AimpointCompM4 (1)_0.jpg

We had two really serious mass shootings in the Uk that spring to mind, Hungerford and Dunblane in Scotland.
It has to be the quickest a UK government has re acted to serious gun crime.
More or less withing weeks it was illegal to own a Pump action Shotgun , a semi automatic rifle and serious restrictions on hand guns.
I think you had to be a member of a gun club for if you wanted to own certain types of weapons.
Obviously there is gun crime in the UK but certainly not anywhere near as bad as some countries.
Yes sadly we have knife crime but more likely than not most stabbings are drug gang related, also seems to be mainly Black on Black.

[happy daze john in oz]

Biggest we had was down in Tassie way back in the 1990's.
A record for many years with 35 shot down.
But our PM then, Howard, managed to pass new laws restricting gun sales and ownership.
Thousands were handed in for destruction.

[j.sabourn]

#153 was in Port Arthur not too long before that occurrence John and found it hard to believe that such could happen in such a beautiful and tranquil setting . We were staying with my cousin and his wife in Launceston and borrowed his car to go down there for a few days. Was even hard to believe it had been a penal colony at one time. JS

[Austin Carl Largan]

#152

Hello James
thanks for the update on UK law, I was under the impression that any form of resistance was at best, frowned upon and could lead to prosecution and or suing by the assailant, I stand corrected. Regards the US second amendment, it was brought into effect primarily in order for the populace to be able to protect itself, by force of arms if necessary, from cruel and unjust government, which I do believe that at the time of amending the constitution, they had the Brits in mind. However, I fully and totally agree with you regarding the need for the restriction on automatic assault weapons, there is no need for them outside of law enforcement or the military. With regard to establishing control of the populace in relation to weapon possession though, I am afraid that this day will never come, if for no other reason than the sheer number of weapons out there amongst the general public is so overwhelmingly large that even if a law prohibiting them were passed today, in a thousand years from now there would still be a plentiful supply.
I also look to the UK and its strict laws regarding weapons possession and also note with dismay the rising number of weapons crimes there. As I am sure you will appreciate, it is not going to be possible to reverse this trend, things will only become progressively worse as the years go by. Unfortunately for the UK what this will eventually mean is that only the criminals will be in possession of firearms and also, at some point in time, it will be inevitable that public outcry regarding their right to protect themselves with firearms will bring about changes to the firearms laws .
For my own part I see firearm ownership as a necessary part of life here in the United States and I feel that responsible ownership of weapons is not a bad thing. Unfortunately not all owners are responsible persons or people of good character either. Which, in my point of view supports my argument for responsible ownership. I was trained by the military in small arms use and primarily safety, my weapons and ammunition are kept in a large and very secure gun safe and I hold a state issued licence. Another thing to consider regarding firearm ownership which will in small way contribute to my argument is that here in the United States there are vast areas of the country where to be without a firearm you are placing yourself in extreme danger, by this I refer to the vast areas of wilderness which are populated with many varieties of poisonous snakes and large, extremely dangerous carnivorous animals. You would certainly not want to be in grizzly bear country without a large bore hunting rifle or be anywhere near any of the multitudinous varieties of poisonous snakes without a sidearm.
So, in closing, I do agree with you in many respects, especially with regard to the availability of automatic rifles, however the USA is nothing like the United Kingdom in so very many areas, the two countries are so different in fact that it is as virtually impossible for us over here to 'wishfully think ' our rights and privileges upon the populace of the United Kingdom, as it is for you to wish to impose totally unworkable laws and regulations upon us. Once again, I do sympathize with you in many respects, but I have to state that it will be a cold day in hell that I would ever surrender my sidearms.

All the best

Austin

[James Curry]

Austin, we will soon be getting legalised guns, the military here are calling on the politicians to form a citizens army. Soon we will have Dad's Army being reformed to beat off these Pesky Russians when they come rolling ashore when Putin calls NATO's bluff.

[Johnny Kieran]

I think they're already ashore, just waiting for the call.

[Austin Carl Largan]

#156

James,

I certainly hope that this does not come to pass, but a nation and its populace have the right to protect itself, this includes guarding your borders against all unwelcome guests, including those who force entry into your country by gatecrashing it in small boats and demanding the right to stay.
The second amendment of the United states was built all around the right to have an armed populace who could form the backbone of a 'Militia' who could then in turn both protect the country and present an obstacle to those persons wishing to overthrow the government by what is commonly known as a coup d'eteat. The military does not have the right to stand to arms within the USA for just this purpose. Persons wishing to take control of a nation illegally usually do so by first taking control of the military. An armed militia, i.e. an armed populace would far outnumber a standing army if it were tasked to put down an internal insurrection. The present day version of this armed militia is known as the National Guard and they are tasked with taking care of the nation's protection and security from within its borders.

The second amendment to the United States constitution makes very interesting reading and is far more in depth than just guaranteeing the rights of citizens to arbitrarily tote weapons.

All the best

Austin

[happy daze john in oz]

Unlike UK here inn Oz all police ae armed with a pistol and a Taser.
There have been a number of occasions when the pistol has been used with the ultimate result, but most times the look of the gun or the use of the Taser is enough.

[Mark Sewell]

Hi John; my last trip over to the uk was in 2002, I was delivering a yacht from the canaries to the med: I left OZ on my Australian passport and went through Heathrow and traveled through Europe on my British one the problem arose when I tried to leave on my British passport they said I would need a visa to go to Australia so I had to dig out my Aussie passport, if we leave OZ on an Australian passport we have to come home on our Australian one. That was a long time ago, I no longer have my British passport and am to worn out to think about traveling. Time and tide: