Re: Stats for comparison
I suspect that you are being deliberately obtuse. I never wrote that the wallabies were ravaging sheep. I included dogs in the list of vermin, specifically people's pets. These aren't farmers' dogs, they belong to townies who have moved into the countryside and brought their towny "ideals" with them.
The law doesn't prevent bullets from flying around near houses, it encourages them. There is no way I can shoot wallabies and rabbits near the house from a hundred metres away. First, there's far too much vegetation around the house to actually be able to see the target. Second, the gun I used to use was nowhere near powerful enough, nor for that matter am I a good enough shot beyond about 20 metres. The ideal location for shooting these rabbits and wallabies is from the front deck of the house since it's elevated 2 metres above ground and surrounding shrubbery. It also ensured that all the shots I fired were away from the house and its occupants.
During the 34 years I have lived here I have only very rarely needed a gun. The local farmers' sons and daughters used to shoot recreationally. The farmers used to carry a gun on the tractor or in the truck so that when the opportunity arose, they could shoot vermin as they came across them. As the farmers and farmworkers have been displaced by townies, the vermin have increased in numbers markedly.
Yes, I could join a gun club (mandatory), purchase a gun safe (mandatory) and a gun. But this would cost several thousand dollars and no doubt annoy the newcomers who think it's cruel to shoot "poor, innocent animals", but not cruel to allow their dogs to run around mauliing farm animals. Go figure...
While possums (and feral cats) are easy to trap, the question arises what to do with the captured possum. Set it free too near where it's caught and it will return from a remarkable distance. Set it free far enough away and it will attempt to displace the local possum(s), they are territorial animals. It will either succeed or starve to death. How humane is that?
Rabbits can only be easily trapped with rabbit traps (illegal), or snares (illegal).
I didn't set up a straw man argument regarding "Glocks, AR-15s and pump-action shotguns"; I was quoting from the post I was responding to. Australia's gun laws apply to the .22 calibre rifle I used to have access to and no longer do so. Prior to the Port Arthur massacre I couldn't justify owning a gun. Now I need one there's so much excessive regulation it's easier to move to town and leave the wildlife problem for someone else to deal with.
Wallabies are only cute when they are not eating your crops.
It is true that there have been no mass shootings in Tasmania since Port Arthur, but Barry Unsworth only called for one such in order for the parliament to pass the gun laws it wanted. Why would they need any more once the legislation passed?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
