Are we a bunch of little girls?

A few weeks ago I happened to catch the auditions for the 2007 Australian Idol, one particular fellow decided to dress up as someone from Kazakhstan. Anyway he proceeded to sing their national anthem, which I’m sure wasn’t the real one, but one line he sang still makes me laugh, “Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world…” something, something “…all other countries are run by little girls…” Read the following and perhaps you too will wonder, basically some fellow has got approval to open a gunshop in the Sydney suburb of Roseville but the residents aren't too happy about it.
More than 200 furious residents packed the community hall to vent their frustration at a decision in which they had been given no voice and no legal recourse. The protestations of the local Mayor of Ku-ring-gai, Nick Ebbeck, that he had no power to distinguish between "a cake, candy or gun store'', was no excuse and promises by the regional police superintendent to install bollards and extra patrols, drew howls of derision. Fears of armed hold-ups and gunfights, as described by a local school principal, and memories of crime from a methadone clinic 10 years ago, remain strong. But it appears he is about as welcome in Babbage Road as a brothel, mainly because the shop front is directly opposite a community hall that runs near houses and a preschool. It is also near a major bus interchange used by school children.

Lisa Warrand is one of dozens of parents who fear the worst: the potential for an armed hold-up and shootout, or merely having to explain to children who walk past every day why a shop sells guns. "Roseville has five churches and no pubs. People buy in this area because they want a more family-focused area," she said yesterday. "We teach children how bad guns are and yet we are being put into a position where we have to explain why there is a man in the car park carrying a gun bought across the road." Sally Cochrane runs the Zest hairdressing salon a few doors away. She concedes that the chances of a hold-up are slim but says it is a risk that should rule out the shop from the neighbourhood. "Children and guns don't mix. It's as simple as that, and if there is a robbery then it could be disastrous,'' she said. "I accept that this man has a right to open his shop and to sell guns, but not here.'' Source.
This has been running hot on the talkback lines, not quite as hot as the vermin preparing to descend upon Sydney to whine about their good fortune though. I heard someone say that there was crying or wailing during the meeting of the 200 residents mentioned above. In all honesty, opposite a preschool is probably not the best place for a gun shop, but I really think the residents of Roseville are overreacting. From what I’ve read and heard from hysterical callers you'd get the impression that the fellow is opening a store selling cocaine, crack, ice, child-porn, porn and nuclear weapons, all at discounted rates to anyone. I saw one schoolgirl on the news saying, “They are not helping the world by selling guns” and some other fellow saying, “who knows what kind of lowlifes & criminals they'll attract to the area”.

It’s almost as if they loathe guns, have these folks forgotten that all this family-focused and free to roam the streets is guaranteed by men with guns. If everybody is scared of hold ups, then close the bank too; close the supermarket and the petrol station as well. Are they seriously raising children to believe that guns are bad and people who like guns are bad, period? Have they forgotten that diggers fought, not with candles and posies, but guns? This might come as a shock to these folks, but not everyone who has a gun is a bad person and wants to go on a shooting rampage, they might want to consider this before running in the opposite direction shrieking hysterically every time they see a policeman with that smallish black metal thing strapped to his hip.

I’m not saying we need to make guns a mandatory subject at school, not that that’s such a bad idea or something, but the way these people are carrying on is ridiculous. Instilling a gun phobia and raising our children like small girls all their lives is doing them more harm in the long run. To paraphrase an old saying, those who were repelled by their guns and turned them into plows usually ended up plowing the fields of those who did not.

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