Well, I guess this gives you some idea of the mentality of our "leaders". We have one of the most beautiful countries in the world -- and we are over-regulated and over-governed to the point of it being ridiculous.
I don't know why, but I can offer two theories:
1. We are now experiencing the results of three decades of a the great socialist experiment, instituted by the Labor government in the 70s. Those people in positions of authority now are a product of that experiment, and know no different.
2. The urbanisation of Australia. The image of the bronzed, laconic Aussie from the Outback died somewhere in the 60s as Australia's economy moved further asnd further away from a rural base. We are now one of the most highly-urbanised countries in the world, and the majority of city-dwellers only know about those items we regards as "tools" (guns, knives) from the media, and we know how fair they are ... NOT!!
Note that here in the west, prohibited weapons include (as well as proscribed firearms): batons, pepper spray, knives that have edges on both sides of the blade, pepper spray, martial arts weapons (nunchakus in particular), replica firearms (you can still own them, but they're moving to close that loophole, too), BB guns, slingshots. If police _suspect_ you are carrying a knife, they can detain and search you. As one senior cops said, "If I catch you carrying a knife, you'd better have a pole over your shoulder and smell strongly of fish". You can't even carry an "offensive weapon" (knife, baseball bat) in your car without a legitimate reason.
There is _no_ sanity.
Bruce
