He said ""self defense" is not a valid excuse to own a lethal weapon" - Edit 3
Before modification by TheCrownless at 21/12/2012 11:41:27 PM
why did you say his factually correct statement (which was explicit in it's wording and impossible to misinterpret) was "wrong"? When in fact it is absolutely true.
I've heard of Australian gun laws from time to time but its not something I memorize, the point is Australia totally permits self-defense for a shooting. Any circumlocutions they engage in for purchase aren't particularly relevant, as I understand it, buying a gun there is quite easy if you want to. Moondog's point, as I understand it (which could be wrong) revolved around self-defense, not acquisition itself. If that wasn't the case, then it is what it is, but I don't think it was relevant to my point or his.
He is 100% correct in that assertion (if you take lethal weapon to mean gun, in this case I think that's a safe assumption although he should have been more specific), you need to have a reason to own a gun in Australia and self-defence is not a recognised reason. It's the same in the UK, if you have a valid reason to own a gun and you must use it in self defence then you're protected by the use of reasonable force (or whatever it was recently reworded to), you can't own a gun for self-defence though. We do have an odd Personal Protection Weapon licence system in the UK which applies in very specific circumstances (usually in NI with ex-security types) so we aren't as cut and dry as Australia in that regard.