Barnaby Just Can't Seem To Help Himself

It seems to be getting to be more of a problem. Every day the news reports that someone has been shot or stabbed. We never used to be an overtly violent country.

 

It sounds like in Australia what that student did to me would be a crime.

 

I guess it is something about the signs of the time. Maybe it will pass. I remember when plane hijackings were somewhat common; now they almost never happen.

 

I think so. To put someone in fear for their life sounds like a crime to me.

 

Perhaps they've been replaced by terrorist shootings.
Baader Meinhof, the Red Brigade, the Black Panthers... all seems a long time ago now doesn't it?

 

The black panthers weren't like the other two groups I mentioned, but they were activists.

 

Yes, I agree completely.

 

Yes that is what I meant by legitimate reasons. Landowners, hunters (This is what I have, I hunt feral pigs when the price is right) but I do need a letter of permission from the landowners, target shooters (must be a member of a club) etc. You need proof of need. Police yes of course, but there are issues there atm (Shooting of that lad with Aspergers the other day for instance), security guards although most don't. You don't need to be fingerprinted, well you didn't when I got mine.

Maybe if Duretic reads these he could give a better answer being an ex-walloper.

 

http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/4274/assault-laws-in-australia-definitions-and-defences.aspx

 

It's interesting when you have to think about stuff you're not used to thinking about, such as is a verbal threat a crime.

 

Much, much stricter. I went to a gun show in the US a few years back. Most of what was on sale there could not be sold here for any reason. The rest would be under fairly strict regulation. It is very, very difficult to buy a pistol & even harder to keep it in the house.

None of this is doable in the US, but it works pretty well here.

 

Yeah we did. From the start. We were just very poor at recording it & are very good at forgetting it. The murder rate now is less than half what it was in the 70s-90s....and 100 years ago for that matter. Some violent crimes are up on 10 or 20 years ago, but a lot more are down.

 

Wow that's surprising. I suppose it must be like domestic violence and child abuse - just not publicised.

 

It gets some publicity, but people are very good at filtering it out & focusing on the 'shock, horror, crime' stories. One or two powerful anecdotes or pieces of footage beats boring statistics any day. Perceptions of crime and actual crime rates are rarely related. People forget 10, 20 or 50 years ago while the now looms large.

Here is a great example - next time you hear someone 60 or over complain about how 'young people' drive, keep in mind that when they learned to drive the road tolls in NSW or Victoria were similar to what the national toll is today. With maybe 20% as many people! I'm talking actual number of road deaths - Victoria clocked up over 1000 a year in the early 70s. A staggering misperception, but a very common one. People forget. They airbrush the past.

back on crime, it also doesn't help that some media outlets and politicians are only interested in 'shock, horror, crime' stories. Twice in the last 6 months figures have been released showing crime dropping in Victoria, in some cases to 10 year lows (which means dramatically lower than 20-30 years ago). Our local Murdoch tabloid, which will run a 'shock, horror, crime' story at the drop of a hat buried both those stories on page 10. The local conservative party jumped on the one or two of the categories that had risen.

They didn't point out that the category that rises most consistently & often accounts for overall rises in violent crime is domestic abuse. That is a tricky category because it is so dependent on reporting rates (as is the case for sexual crimes). It also doesn't scare people very much. Gangs of Sudanese kids kicking in doors makes people feel unsafe. The bloke up the road beating up the wife does not. If there had been wider reporting of domestic & sexual abuse in the past those crime figures would have looked very different. members of my own family who were never crime statistics would have been. I'm sure many of us could tell similar stories.

To quote Flavor Flav & Chuck D - don't believe the hype.

 

When examining our statistics it must be remembered that not every crime is reported to the police, not every crime that is reported is recorded, not every crime that is recorded is investigated, not every crime that is investigated is cleared ('solved'), not every crime that is investigated yields a suspect, not every suspect is apprehended, not every apprehended person is charged, not every charged person is brought before the courts, not every person brought before the courts is convicted, and not every convicted person is imprisoned. (It has been estimated by Satyanshu Mukherjee that in New South Wales in 1996 "one offender was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for every 156 crimes of break and enter, motor vehicle theft, assault or robbery" (Mukherjee 1999, p. 75).
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4524A092E30E4486CA2569DE00256331
Is this applicable for homicide too do you think? Remember there are lies, damned lies and statistics.

 

I agree that the tabloids beat issues up. A friend of mine listens to the Shock jocks on Fairfax radio and fully believes the streets are swarming with African youths intent on stealing her car or the virtue of her blonde daughter!

 

If she lives in one of a handful of suburbs in the Sth East or West of Melbourne (Cranbourne, Tarneit) she has half a reason to be worried. The problem is real, but much, much smaller than has been suggested by the media.

 

Homicide is generally considered to be the most 'reliable' crime statistic. It is less susceptible to under reporting and the definition varies less across jurisdictions. That doesn't mean it can be extrapolated to represent the state of all other crimes, but it can offer a broad measure of rises & falls in criminal behavior in a way that other stats don't.

 

You have nailed it to 100%. Something has changed.

Think back, two guys involved in an argument. Fists were flying, one went down, and that was the end of it.
Today that often marks just the beginning. A soon as one is down, he cops it 10 times more from there on....
We have become a very sickening society. Today is very different, indeed!!!

The best thing Howard did was prohibiting guns.
I never really understood why people are so attracted to them, or even visiting gun shows. Absolutely sick.....
A gun belongs in the hands of a soldier, defending his/her country. Or to a farmer, controlling pests....

Reg.

 

Yes, the murder rate has halved.

 

I like this lovely, meandering thread, I really do, not being sarcastic.

On Barnaby, he's in a world of hurt. If he's lucky - in the relationship area - things will work out with him and his new partner. If not then anything could happen and on a personal level that would be devastating for him. Not that I give a rat's arse. As far as the political side is concerned, he's done and dusted, he just doesn't realise it yet. Apart from the rumours and allegations of abuse of alcohol and sexual antics (probably going together) there are other nefarious goings-on that relate to gifts and money. As the cops say -sorry to be vulgar -the three things that will do you in are "cash, gash and bash". Barnaby apparently hasn't biffed anyone yet.

On the gun control thing - the US cannot follow the Australian or UK approach. Those approaches are built on societies that are not loaded (pardon the pun) with firearms. The US has more - per capita - private firearms than any country in the world. So the path Australia took in 1996 (and before if the truth be known) simply will not work in the US. Anyway it's their problem, they are entitled to work it out themselves. However each mass shooting is an object lesson to ourselves.

On Les Patterson. Life imitates art and then some!

 

its funny to see Barnaby look self righteous and say that Malcolm has been inept and unhelpful.

 

I wonder if there is some way to restrict access to ammo.

 

We have changed our laws as well though. Most notably violence against health car employees workers and cops. Spit on a cop and you will be charged with a serious offence

But here our cops do not have to approach the car with a weapon drawn if they pull someone over.

But from the little research there is around this topic it appears one of the more important aspects of our laws is securement of the firearms

 

I guarantee there is a few he would like too, including Malcolm.