Aussie attacking my 2 favorite things

[Kaeto]

Heck in england now the school teachers have the right to "forceably search" any student they think might be up to no good.

 

[daniel (australia)]

It's not as if that sort of thing could ever happen in the US though, is it?

In late October 2003, a 9-year-old boy was arrested at gunpoint and handcuffed for waving a toy gun over his head while seated on a bench in downtown Lorain as his mother was getting her hair done at the Northern Institute of Cosmetology on Broadway.

A passerby had reported to police that he saw a boy playing with the gun while walking down the sidewalk, and that the gun appeared to be real, according to a police report filed at the time.

A police officer pointed his gun at the boy's head, ordered him down on the ground and handcuffed him, according to the report.

The boy was charged with juvenile delinquency by reason of inducing panic, according to the police report.

February 2, 2005
HOLLYWOOD -- A fifth-grade student at a Hollywood elementary school was arrested for bringing a toy gun to school Wednesday.

Officials said students at Driftwood Elementary in Hollywood, Fla., spotted a fifth-grader with what appeared to be a gun Wednesday. The students notified the resource officer, who found out that it was a toy gun.

Police said the gun looked real, and the only indication it was fake was its orange tip. The 10-year-old boy was arrested and charged with disruption of school function. He was also suspended from school for 10 days.

CINCINNATI, May 21, 2007 (UPI)
Lawrence Wakefield was arrested Saturday when police say they caught him with a gun, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The gun turned out to be a toy gun in a paper bag but Wakefield was still charged with attempted carrying a concealed weapon, attempted being a felon with a weapon and possession of criminal tools.

 

[obxned]

The dingos ate their brains!

 

[ECVMSparky]

Guess what country has fought alongside the USA in WW1, WW2, korea, vietnam, gulf war 1, gulf war 2, afganistan ?

[sarcasm on]Yeah, and we couldn't have done it without you....... [sarcasm off]
So, BTW, what's it like to still be a subject of the British empire?

 

[tubeshooter]

"From my cold dead hands you must take it!" -Yoda

Um... shouldn't that be "From my hands dead cold, take it you must!"?

 

[Elza]

I wouldn’t be too quick with the comments or criticisms regarding Oz or the U.K. The U.S. isn’t as far gone as they are but we’re catching up fast! If people don’t wake up soon we’ll be there before we know it.

As far as our brothers in Oz being “wimps” and such, folks might want to do some checking. The Australian army was some of the meanest SOB’s God ever put on two legs! As far as Australian society as a whole, the U.S. (don’t fight back just let it happen) mentality is certainly nothing to brag about these days.

 

[NCLivingBrit]

There's a difference between being wimps and having a government run roughshod over you. I've known a great many Aussies and there is one, maybe two I'd call wimps. The rest are good blokes and like Elza says the few members of their armed forces I've met are certainly not on my ass-to-be-kicked list if I can avoid it.

Remember, Australian law is descended from British law and in British law, most of your rights are discretionary at best....

 

[daniel (australia)]

Quote:
Guess what country has fought alongside the USA in WW1, WW2, korea, vietnam, gulf war 1, gulf war 2, afganistan ?


[sarcasm on]Yeah, and we couldn't have done it without you....... [sarcasm off]
So, BTW, what's it like to still be a subject of the British empire?

That response betrays a breathtaking ignorance!

Australia fought through all of World War I. We'd had three years of it before the US belatedly joined, fought far more battles and, on a per head of population basis supplied far more soldiers and lost far more: more than 61,000 dead from a population of 4.5 million. Our soldiers fought all through WWII as well, in theatres such as Africa, Europe, and the Pacific, and again on a per capita basis far more of our people fought and died than did yours. It is an insult to their memory to have some know-nothing trivialise their sacrifice.

As for Korea, it was indeed essential that Australia and others participated, as it was a UN action under Security Council Resolution 82: America for political reasons couldn't go it alone. Australians were yet again among the first in, from 1949. We were among the first in in Vietnam too, with troops there from 1962, and 50,000 Australians served there from 1962 to 1973. BTW when we withdrew in 1973 it was the first time since 1939 that Australian soldiers weren't engaged in combat operations somewhere in the world since 1939.

And British subjects? That hasn't been true for generations, since the ratification of the Statute of Westminster of 1931.

As I pointed out above, silliness such as that which opened this thread is not something confined to Australia. There's been any number of similar cases in the US. It does get really old however to have every thread in which Australia is mentioned inevitably lead to ignorant and offensive comments about the Australian people, including the sort of nonsense which has made an appearance here.

You should take what has happened here in Oz as an object lesson, as to what a government can and will do if given the chance. You might also take note that even now there are millions of firearms in legal and non-legal ownership here. Even the Government concedes that the buyback netted only a minority - some say as little as 20% - of the firearms which were banned (there was a marked shortage of 6" poly pipe and end caps for a while there though), and the number handed in was substantially outweighed by subsequent legal imports. It isn't as if we've given up .

 

[oldgold]

daniel (australia)
You forgot Ruby Ridge and Waco. It just hasn't happened recently. But wait, elections are coming.

 

[Bluey]

Doesn't a FIREarm have to FIRE something? Otherwise, it's not a FIREarm, is it? How can he be charged with that? That's like being charged for carrying an illegal knife because I have a piece of cheese in my pocket.

Unfortunately, the legislation in Victoria states that anything with the appearance of a firearm can be taken as the real thing. So yeah, that little cap pistol you buy your kid can net you jail time if the copper is in a bad mood.
And to those saying aussies are wimps...I'll let you try saying that to bods like 4RAR, the SAS, and plenty of others.
I do have to agree though, Australia is fast heading the way of the Uk. For instance, as of the 1st July smoking in any licensed venue will be banned, and there's talk of banning any smoking in public. Someone tell me how prohibition worked out...