You guys and your guns...

[Coito ergo sum]

YOu obviously don't want to taste what they serve in british curry houses...

...I'm sure it's the best ever, and the only proper curry.... etc. etc....

You two and your love affair with Britain. You just cant stop talking about it.....

Yes, I would imagine that frequent references to a particular country would indicate that sort of sentiment....

[Clinton Huxley]

Where is the pie in the face emoticon?

CES ate it.

[Coito ergo sum]

Where is the pie in the face emoticon?

CES ate it.

[Jason]

Where is the pie in the face emoticon?

CES ate it.

[JimC]

Getting back to the article about hunting in Oz, the Greens spokesman was just being totally ludicrous, stuffed full of politic correctness. I certainly don't share his views...

Hunting foxes and rabbits with a .22 is perfectly normal for country kids; it is a responsible form of feral pest control, and doesn't insidiously lead Australia into a culture of hand-guns and assault rifles...

Mind you, I'm not sure a responsible parent should let a 12 year old out hunting wild pigs with knife and dogs, all by themselves - wild pigs are nasty bastards...

[mistermack]

no guns and horrible food? non merci.

Depends on what you mean by British food, when I have foreign visitors and they want to try British food I take them to nearest Asian curry house

Anyway, I can't think of any French food the has caught on round the world.
A slightly longer bread roll seems to be about it.
I'm sure I must have missed something. Can anybody think of another?

[Jason]

Getting back to the article about hunting in Oz, the Greens spokesman was just being totally ludicrous, stuffed full of politic correctness. I certainly don't share his views...

Hunting foxes and rabbits with a .22 is perfectly normal for country kids; it is a responsible form of feral pest control, and doesn't insidiously lead Australia into a culture of hand-guns and assault rifles...

Mind you, I'm not sure a responsible parent should let a 12 year old out hunting wild pigs with knife and dogs, all by themselves - wild pigs are nasty bastards...

Yes, I agree. I received my first .22LR when I was 12 too. Though I'm Canadian and not Australian, gun ownership, use and the responsibilities that come with that, were all instilled from a young age in my experience growing up in rural Ontario (Canada). I didn't grow up in an urban environment, so I cannot speak to that, but I feel that learning these things at an early age can only be beneficial.

Also no .22 (even magnums of which I own a few) make an "almighty crack" when fired.. more like a 'somewhat loud pop'. Clearly the author of the article is either sensationalising or completely unfamiliar with firearms.

[mistermack]

Getting back to the article about hunting in Oz, the Greens spokesman was just being totally ludicrous, stuffed full of politic correctness. I certainly don't share his views...

Hunting foxes and rabbits with a .22 is perfectly normal for country kids; it is a responsible form of feral pest control, and doesn't insidiously lead Australia into a culture of hand-guns and assault rifles...

Mind you, I'm not sure a responsible parent should let a 12 year old out hunting wild pigs with knife and dogs, all by themselves - wild pigs are nasty bastards...

That made me wonder too. Tame pigs are fuckin dangerous. I wouldn't want to encounter a wild one close up.

I would tie that knife to a very long strong stick. Minimum. And preferably get the hell out of it.

I don't like guns, but I see nothing wrong with hunting invasive alien species.
Kids are a bit risky though. Some are going to be ok, but some will be dangerous.

[Jason]

Pigs are not naturally aggressive until they feel they are trapped.. in my extensive experience. Unless Aussie country kids hunt in packs, I think this would be hugely impractical 'snipe hunting'. I assume the real hunting is done with bows and arrows, as mentioned in the article, while the children are allowed to also carry hunting knives.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I've been on trips with friends how hunted razorbacks with bow and arrow. I was the backup long gun. Never had to shoot one, but I was impressed with their extreme toughness. One arrow would kill them, but you wanted to hit them far enough away that they could have time to figure out they were dead before they got to you.

[Blind groper]

As I said before, I have no problem with hunting rifles where there is a legitimate need. In Australia, hunting pests is definitely a legitimate need, and farmers should be able to do this. The proper age for a child to go hunting with a rifle is a subjective decision, and everyone will have their own opinion. I see no problem with a responsible 12 year old having the use of a .22 to hunt rabbits, as long as that 12 year old is given sufficient training first.

This is very, very different to the thing I oppose, which is civilians carrying loaded hand guns in public.

[mistermack]

Pigs are not naturally aggressive until they feel they are trapped.. in my extensive experience. Unless Aussie country kids hunt in packs, I think this would be hugely impractical 'snipe hunting'. I assume the real hunting is done with bows and arrows, as mentioned in the article, while the children are allowed to also carry hunting knives.

From personal experience, I know what kids are like with weapons.
They do mental things when they are not supervised.

I was really into archery as a kid, along with my friends. We were members of an archery club, and strictly observed all the safety precautions.

But we used to go hunting rabbits and rats in our spare time, on our own, and safety just went out of the window.
We had powerful bows, and one game was to shoot an arrow vertically as high as you possibly could, and see how close you could get the arrow to land to where you were standing. It was usually a reasonable distance away, and we could watch it come down.

But then we started playing the same game as it was getting dark, and you couldn't see the arrow coming down. You just heard a whizz and a thump, to tell you where the arrow landed.
We stood there like idiots, with our hands over our heads, waiting for the arrow to come down. It was playing chicken in a really lethal way.
I get the heebie jeebies now whenever I remember it.
But that's the sort of thing that kids will get up to when they go out on their own.

[Jason]

Boys will be boys MM. I did some stupid shit when I was a kid too. It's part of growing up. A healthy dose of 'Darwinism' cannot be deleterious to our species; surely you agree?

[mistermack]

Boys will be boys MM. I did some stupid shit when I was a kid too. It's part of growing up. A healthy dose of 'Darwinism' cannot be deleterious to our species; surely you agree?

To the species yes. But not to the individual.
Evolution works, at the expense of the individual. I'm just lucky I wasn't that individual.

I can just imagine explaining to my friend's parents, why he had my arrow sticking out of the top of his head....
Shit, it gives me the creeps even now.

[JimC]

I tried hunting rabbits with a bow once. I wasn't too bad a shot at a normal archery target, but I never hit a single bunny in the field. I soon returned to my trusty .22