Another bush ballad in "cartoons, poetry and wit"
Once a Jolly Shooter camped by his Parliament,
Under the shade of the money tree;
He was there to make a protest to keep his trusty shooting irons,
All by him self and alone was he.
To the tune of Waltzing Matilda.
John Howard gives Rugby $25 mill - Shooters shafted
Rugby is played in over 120 countries throughout the world and is a game rich in history, traditions, camaraderie and community involvement. Its popularity in Australia continues to grow, with grassroots participation increasing by 9.5 per cent in 2006 to just under 194,000.
Comment: Shooting is conducted world wide, with a longer history and almost one million grassroots participants in Australia, but shooters are demonised at every opportunity.
Japan: Beefed up gun control in the works
A government project team completed Monday a package of proposals to tighten firearms restrictions in the wake of the April assassination of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito and the gunning down of a riot police officer in Aichi Prefecture in May. Related article
CLASS Opinion: Is the media biased? You bet!
The Channel Nine Today Show's Compere thinks twelve votes constitutes an overwhelming majority of Australians.
Control order plan for bikies
BIKIE GANG members could be placed under terrorist control orders as part of a national crackdown on organised crime. Mr Cameron said the group would also discuss establishing a national guns database that tracks firearms across the country. "There will be a proposal for hopefully in November as to how this will be implemented," he said. The database will aid police investigations by allowing them to access information about guns registered across the country.
UK: Rail crash trauma ‘made me a killer’
A man who claims he was turned into a killer by the trauma that he suffered in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash began an unprecedented claim for £300,000 in compensation yesterday. After two years of depression, frequent absences from work and bouts of anxiety and nervousness, Gray, 47, stabbed a pedestrian to death with a kitchen knife in August 2001 when his victim drunkenly hammered on his car window.
Comment: A kitchen knife! Why haven't they been banned? And trains: Just ban them, too!
SA: Firearms 'expert' pontificates
COULD Natasha Stott Despoja be looking at life after politics? With regular host Kim Watkins away, Channel 10's 9am with David and Kim is rotating guest hosts.
UK: Government figures 'missing' two million violent crimes
An extra two million violent crimes a year are committed in Britain than previously thought because of a bizarre distortion in the Government's flagship crime figures, it was claimed yesterday. A former Home Office research expert said that across all types of crime, three million offences a year are excluded from the British Crime Survey (BCS).
Comment: Don't like the statistics? Fiddle them!
NSW: New top cop: I'm not here to fight petty crime
NEW police commissioner Andrew Scipione has rejected community calls for an assault on petty crime, saying he does not want to fill our jails with small-time offenders. And he has flatly rejected calls for NSW to emulate the success of New York with zero tolerance policing, saying the policy would not work in NSW.
Scotland: Got a licence for that sporran?
Kilt wearers could face prosecution if they do not have a licence for their sporran under new legislation which has been introduced in Scotland.
Comment: Too many politicians with too little to do. Sound familiar?
US: Another anti-gun group member up on gun charges
The founder of an antiviolence group called No Guns pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal weapons charges. Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin is accused of selling an assault rifle, a machine gun, two pistols and two silencers to undercover federal agents last fall. He could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
Campaigners target handguns
The 2002 National Agreement on Handguns led to some easily concealable weapons being banned outright while training and waiting period provisions for sporting shooters became more stringent. But the agreement did not go far enough for Gun Control Australia's John Crook, who wants to ban nearly all handguns and describes some gun enthusiasts as "extremists". "There are extremists in the handgun community who would like to drag us down the same road as America, simply so they can be amused by their hobby.
Comment: It would be nice if, just for once, someone remembers that this handgun is already illegal.
The death dealers
It (Christopher Hudson's pistol which he used to murder a Melbourne solicitor) is illegal in Australia on two counts: it combines a brutally heavy calibre with a short barrel that makes it easy to hide, a recipe for carnage in criminal hands. And it is a product of a sinister black market that, like the drug trade, ran out of control while authorities concentrated on easier targets.
Comment: Easier targets—such as licensed firearm owners. w26
NSW: Man quizzed over guns seizure
A 48-year-old man was today being questioned over the seizure of more than 310 firearms at a Wagga Wagga gun shop, police said.
VIC: CFCV does not support a national firearms registry
A presentation was provided to the Firearms Consultative Committee (FCC) on the NFMS framework on 18 May for its information. The FCC was not asked to endorse the NFMS and did not do so. We appreciate the work that has gone into this project, however we are now hearing rumours that the NFMS, which was intended to be a firearm tracking system and provide the community with various net benefits, is now being touted as a nationally based firearms registry.
Canada: Hubris in the North
Hubris in the North: The Canadian Gun Registry fails to improve public safety as homicide rate and gang-related killings increase... A new paper by Gary Mauser of the Fraser Institute arguing that Canada's gun laws are a failure. PDF document (1 Mg.)
Submitted by DG.
UK: Blog—The end of my gun culture
Just had a visit from two uniformed officers. Reason? My firearms renewal, but more significantly this blog. It seems that my crappy little corner of the blogosphere has come to the attention of the police, and they don’t like it.
Comment: We're from the Police and we're here to help you.
VIC: Guns, weapons seized in bikie raids
DRUGS and weapons were seized and four men were charged when police carried out simultaneous raids on members of the Rebels Motorcycle Club yesterday morning. A loaded handgun found under a bed at the Rebels Motorcycle Club's Edols St headquarters was one of the most concerning discoveries police made during raids on four properties in Highton, North Geelong and East Geelong.
QLD: Katter—"People should be armed"
ALL north Queensland residents and travellers should be armed with high-calibre weapons to protect themselves from crocodiles, according to maverick MP Bob Katter. Mr Katter said croc numbers had reached plague proportions and the reptiles were being seen in places never before recorded. "People should be armed . . . What do they want us to do? Knock them on the head with a hammer?" Submitted by PC (Qld)
NSW: Father, daughter stabbed to death
A FAMILY has been devastated in a stabbing attack in southwest Sydney that has left a father and his daughter dead. The family's mother, who was seriously injured in the attack, ran from the Revesby Heights home where it occurred to raise the alarm with a neighbour about 3.50pm today, police said.
7.30 report: Shooting prompts call for illegal guns crackdown
(The Melbourne shooting) has ignited a growing debate over the illegal gun trade in Australia and whether authorities are winning the fight to get illegal weapons off the streets. Program transcript --- Streaming video.
Comment: Good for SSAA (SA); but why is SSAA's National Office so silent?
UK: Shopkeeper fined £250 for hitting back against thieves
Jacob Smyth chased three youths out of his hardware shop in Penzance, Cornwall, when he was set upon. When he was kicked in the groin by one of the hooded youths who had stolen cans of spray paint Mr Smyth hit back. Police issued fixed penalty tickets to the shoplifters but charged Mr Smyth and a colleague with assault.
US: Muzzleloaders return
Aimed at targets (at the Pacific Zone Championships) will be flintlock muskets, rifles, pistols and shotguns; percussion rifles, pistols and shotguns; and matchlock smoothbore muskets and pistols. The Japanese were unable to secure permission from their government to bring their firearms out of their country.
UK: Gun Law
WITH his black body armour and bearing a deadly assault rifle and handgun, this menacing officer looks better suited to the set of Judge Dredd than patrolling Scots streets. But this armed and dangerous supercop is one of hundreds of new Bobbies on the beat cracking down on our spiralling gun crime rates.
Comment: Spiralling gun crime? The gun bans were supposed to stop that.
Australian Newspapers Online
Bookmark this site: It will prove useful for anyone seeking details of any newspaper in Australia. Also has some scans of early newspapers which will prove of interest to history buffs — of whom we have a number in CLASS.
UK: When is a gun not a gun?
On 13 September 2006, amid a great deal of media fanfare, police officers swooped on a house in Dartford, Kent, and claimed to have busted a huge gun-smuggling racket. Nine months later, the only man arrested on that day - Mick Shepherd - has walked free from the Old Bailey after being found not guilty of 13 firearms charges. w27
AIC Report: Murder rate up - firearm homicide down
The weapons and methods used in homicide have remained relatively the same compared with previous years, with a knife or sharp instrument accounting for a third of all homicide victims. The use of firearms has again declined, with 14 percent of homicides committed with a firearm.
US: Stop annual meltdown of illegal firearms
Perhaps state law demands that county sheriffs destroy confiscated firearms, but common sense suggests that the law should be changed. I couldn't help but think that all those firearms could easily be valued at $200 to $800 a piece in the legal marketplace. The profits (from the sale) could be added to his budget, and the sale would benefit many of the hundreds of thousands who lawfully own a firearm.
Alleged gunman may have robbed a hotel earlier that night
A GUNMAN who shot and killed a Brisbane police officer at a Brisbane home on Wednesday night has died in hospital. He is alleged to have robbed a Brisbane hotel just hours before the shooting and officers found about $6000 cash at the premises, police sources said.
Brisbane police shooting
When two police officers knocked on the front door of a Keperra home late last night on a "routine matter", they had no idea one of them would be dead within the hour. Constable Brett Irwin, 33, was killed while trying to arrest a man who was known by local police to have a criminal history. Submitted by PC (Qld) w29
AIC Report: Homicide in Australia 2005-2006
Firearm homicide rate is down but murder rate overall increased by 14% compared to the previous year, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology. During the current year, the incidence of homicide increased by 14 percent compared to 2004-05, this represents an increase of 34 homicide incidents.
QLD: Policeman shot dead in Brisbane
Constable Brett Irwin was fatally wounded when he and a colleague went to a house at Regan Street in Keperra, in Brisbane's north-west, to speak to a man about a warrant.
CLASS: The warrant is understood to relate to a bail absconder.
NSW: Man charged for illegal gun and drug supply
A man is due to face court today after being charged by Firearms and Regulated Industries Crime Squad detectives investigating illegal gun and drug supply in the state's central west. Strike Force Hispano was set up in June last year and over the past 12 months it will be alleged detectives seized a quantity of amphetamines.
PM asks cabinet, Is it me?
The Prime Minister asked an electoral war cabinet in Canberra, "Am I the problem?", inviting his colleagues to offer frank criticism of his leadership. But his colleagues were silent. The meeting, ostensibly called to discuss climate change, became an open debate about the Coalition's dire polling position.
Comment: Well, yes PM, we think it is. If you had not so assiduously targeted Australia's one million firearm owners the coalition might not be experiencing its current political problems.
It's Russia’s Trademark Gun, but Others Grab the Profits
(The) United States has become a premier distributor handing out the weapons to indigenous police officers and soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. (But) the Pentagon has shunned purchases from Russia, opting instead for AK-47 knockoffs available for sale or donation from other countries’ stockpiles. (The true AK-47 was short lived and swiftly modified; its many variants, almost all of which the Soviet Union helped create via foreign aid, are often inaccurately called AK-47s, by now universal shorthand.)
NSW: Villains robbing the cop-shop
In a major embarrassment for NSW Police, officers failed to protect their own property on 628 occasions last year, documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph reveal. The figures include break-ins at police stations. Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher also warned that people breaking into police stations could be doing so to access weapons.
Comment: Are there more break-ins at police stations than at gun owners homes? Possibly. Quick, someone tell Ms Lee and her cronies at the NCGC.
NSW: Man charged over gun in nightclub
Police were called to a club on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst at 6.30pm (AEST) yesterday after staff and patrons reported seeing the weapon.
UK: Dealer slams police investigation
TODAY a gun dealer who
proved his innocence
slams a police
investigation that left
him to suffer an
agonising ten-month wait
in custody in two of
London's toughest jails.
Michael Shepherd, 56,
faced 32 years in prison
after being arrested in
September last year
following an 18-month
operation by the Met
police's anti-gun crime
Trident squad.
Oz: Pollies on MySpace
Now, this probably qualifies as "cruel and unusual punishment", but take a gander at the websites of Australian MP's on MySpace. Have a laugh at their list of 'achievements'. Warning: Strong stomach needed!
Canada: Poll rejects gun control
A federally commissioned poll of ‘stakeholders’ selected by the government to comment on potential changes to gun control found more opposition than support for tighter restrictions. When tougher screening measures were presented to participants in the survey, they were more often poorly received, while changes that appeared to lessen the burden on gun owners, such as dropping a five-year license renewal requirement, were supported by a majority of participants.
Submitted by PC (QLD)
TAS: Howard gun scare at Launceston airport
There has been a security scare at Launceston Airport after a man produced parts of a gun while trying to book a ticket to fly to Canberra and see Prime Minister John Howard.
Also of interest: - John Howard's call on the 10th. anniversary of Pt Arthur. PM urges tighter gun laws
Gun theft gangs strike again
Three security guards were disarmed and robbed during a cash delivery at a Commonwealth Bank branch today - the fourth armoured van hold-up in three weeks.
Jamaica: "Dem kill smaddy"
Sometime last year, while attempting to drive along Lyndhurst Road, I noticed all the vehicles ahead of me making U turns and going in the opposite direction. I barely glimpsed a piece of the yellow police 'crime-scene' tape when a truck driver, noticing my quizzical appearance, shouted to me, "Dem kill smaddy!"
Comment: Gee whiz, aren't guns banned in Jamaica?
US: Lawmaker Opposing Deadly Force Bill Shoots Thief
A state lawmaker who opposed a bill giving Texans stronger right to defend themselves with deadly force pulled a gun and shot a man he says was trying to steal copper wiring from a construction site, police said Monday.
Submitters comment: Don't you just love these hypocrites?
NSW: Latest on Wagga gun seizure
New details have emerged about the seizure of hundreds of guns from a Wagga Wagga address in southern New South Wales last week.
Scotland: Police planned burger reward in gun amnesty
SENIOR police chiefs considered offering free junk food and CDs as "inducements to surrender" in a desperate attempt to cut the number of potentially lethal air-guns on the streets of Scotland. Comment: Good grief, 'Buns for Guns'!
The weird world of Mexican law enforcement
GUN-LESS TIJUANA POLICE ISSUED SLINGSHOTS . . . The Tijuana, Mexico, police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers due to the fact that their guns were confiscated by federal authorities, reports the Associated Press. The city's 2,000 police officers have been without guns since Jan. 5, when their firearms were confiscated amid allegations that corrupt officers were supporting drug traffickers.
Sorry, the AP link is outdated.
UK: Boy gunned down by bicycle gang
A TEENAGE boy has been shot dead after he was chased down through the streets of south London by a pack of up to 20 youths on bicycles, in the latest suspected gang killing plaguing the area. The 16-year-old was chased by at least six or seven youths wearing bandanas to cover their faces, London police have said.
Comment: Let us not forget that civilian ownership of handguns is totally banned in the UK.
CANADA: Missing the target on gun crime
Last week, Statistics Canada reported the national crime rate last year dipped to its lowest level in more than a quarter century. Apparently, no one told the gun-toting thugs who murdered an 11-year-old boy in Toronto last weekend along with three other people, fatally shot a 37-year-old man in broad daylight on a Halifax residential street and wounded four others inside a Winnipeg nightclub.
QLD: Closing date for submissions
We have been advised that the closing date for submissions to the Queensland Weapons Act Review is Friday, 14 September 2007.
VIC: US firm guns for contract
Two employees from Smith and Wesson met (Victoria Police} force command and the Police Association yesterday to talk about their weaponry. The State Government pledged before last year's election to provide $10 million for new semi-automatic firearms and stun-guns.
US: Miss Kansas has roots in nature
Last weekend Cara Gorges was dressed in a knock-about clothing, her hair was tucked beneath a Royals cap, and her face showed beads of sweat from the July heat. Within the last year she's found another outdoors passion -- target shooting. Submitted by DG. DG's comment: "Love at first sight".
The killing of an 11-year-old boy caught in the crossfire of a gang war has sparked outrage among many levels of government and prompted Ontario's attorney general to lobby Ottawa for tougher gun measures. "We need to choke off the gun supply from legal gun owners to illegal gun owners."
Comment: Ye Gods! They're all using the same hymn book.
ACT: Taxpayers fun Federal MP's shoot-up party
US: Introducing children to firearms
Tom Wright recently took his grandson Cole out to teach him how to shoot. A lot of people wonder what age you can start your kids and it is mostly an individual preference. It depends on the youngster and the adult supervising. Above all, we need to do it in a safe manner.
NSW: Sawn-off gun found at triple shooting site
AIC Report: Murder rate up - firearm homicide down
The weapons and methods used in homicide have remained relatively the same compared with previous years, with a knife or sharp instrument accounting for a third of all homicide victims. The use of firearms has again declined, with 14 percent of homicides committed with a firearm.
US: Stop annual meltdown of illegal firearms
Perhaps state law demands that county sheriffs destroy confiscated firearms, but common sense suggests that the law should be changed. I couldn't help but think that all those firearms could easily be valued at $200 to $800 a piece in the legal marketplace. The profits (from the sale) could be added to his budget, and the sale would benefit many of the hundreds of thousands who lawfully own a firearm.
Alleged gunman may have robbed a hotel earlier that night
A GUNMAN who shot and killed a Brisbane police officer at a Brisbane home on Wednesday night has died in hospital. He is alleged to have robbed a Brisbane hotel just hours before the shooting and officers found about $6000 cash at the premises, police sources said.
Brisbane police shooting
When two police officers knocked on the front door of a Keperra home late last night on a "routine matter", they had no idea one of them would be dead within the hour. Constable Brett Irwin, 33, was killed while trying to arrest a man who was known by local police to have a criminal history. Submitted by PC (Qld)
UK: .577 double rifle brings £66,000 at auction
A gun used to kill more than a thousand African elephants has sold for £66,000 (A$157,250) at auction in London. It fetched more than four times the estimated sale price of £12,000 to £16,000 at Bonhams auction house on Wednesday night.
TAS: Police swoop on gun dealer
POLICE seized 2000 guns worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in a swoop on a New Town firearms business yesterday. About a dozen uniform, forensic and plain clothes officers spent several hours removing a large haul of shotguns, rifles and ammunition after the earl-morning raid of two properties owned by log-running licensed firearms dealer Stuart Woods.
US 'loses' 190,000 weapons in Iraq
THE US Government cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, says the Government Accountability Office. According to its July 31 report, the military “cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces”.
Comment: Here's a thought; ban government gun ownership.
NZ: Machineguns to star in auction
Two heavy machine guns owned by a Masterton gun collector are going under the hammer in Wellington this week. The World War I British Vickers machine gun and Czechoslovakian machine gun were the pride and joy of Masterton electrician Allan Nattrass, who died in a car crash near Solway Park in September.
Ebay bolsters anti-shooter credentials
In mid-August, we will be updating our Firearms, Weapons and Knives Policy to place more restrictions around gun-related items. Once these changes take effect, we will prohibit listings of any firearm part that is required for the firing of a gun. This includes items like bullet tips, brass casings and shells, barrels, slides, cylinders, magazines, firing pins, trigger assemblies, etc. Not really related, but interesting
Canada: U of T closes shooting range
"In today's world, even the perception of tolerance of guns and gun violence is seen as a negative," said Catherine Riggall, the university's vice-president of business affairs, who approved the decision recently. "This is the last university in the country to have a gun range on campus ... it's just not seen as a priority activity."
AK47: The Story of the People's Gun
There was a hint of a Russified Jack London in the childhood and adolescence of Mikhail Kalashnikov. The expanses of Siberia standing in for the Pacific north-west perhaps; there was an old rifle for hunting in the woods (and) the mysterious gift of an American Browning revolver. A Browning revolver?
Canada: Handgun ban off target
A salute to Nova Scotia Justice Minister Murray Scott, and Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil, for refusing to climb on the bandwagon being rolled out (yet again) by Ontario's Liberal government and Toronto Mayor David Miller. As Scott commented last week, "we need to zero in on the illegal firearms, as opposed to taking away firearms from people who use them in a lawful way."
Aboriginal leader raided for owning a toy gun
Spies watch rise of virtual terrorist
US: State trooper shoots himself in the hand
An off-duty state trooper accidentally shot himself in the hand Tuesday afternoon and was rushed to Central Maine Medical Center. Keith Frank, a former Auburn police officer and a veteran state trooper, shot himself in the left palm as he was entering his Pownal Road home in Auburn. Frank was taking the .45-caliber handgun off his belt when it went off, Auburn Sgt. Eric Audette said.
Comment: No doubt the 'professor' will claim this shows just how unsafe handguns can be.
SA: Armed robber flees on push bike
The man entered the Smokemart on South Road at 11.30pm and threatened staff with a gun before fleeing on a push bike with a small amount of money and two cartons of cigarettes.
VIC: Deadly state — tracking the killers among us
Bond University-based criminologist Dr Wayne Petherick said that because firearms were not easily available in Australia, many homicides involved knives and most were committed by people who knew their victim.
Comment: The salient fact is not that fewer homicide are committed with guns, it is that the Prime Minister's gun laws have done absolutely nothing to reduce the overall homicide rate.
UK: More shootings in "Gunchester".
Two separate shootings killed one person and wounded two others, including a teenager, in Manchester, a city known as "Gunchester" in the 1990s because of its widespread firearms crime. Related news item.
Comment: Fewer guns, more crime?
UK: Town placed on alert after two heifers escape
A town remains on alert, 24 hours after two heifers escaped from a cattle market, sparking the deployment of police marksmen. One cow has been shot dead but the other remains on the loose and police have renewed warnings that the half-ton animal is extremely dangerous.
Comment: Good grief, police marksmen! "The sky is falling, the sky is falling" w31
UK: .577 double rifle brings £66,000 at auction
A gun used to kill more than a thousand African elephants has sold for £66,000 (A$157,250) at auction in London. It fetched more than four times the estimated sale price of £12,000 to £16,000 at Bonhams auction house on Wednesday night.
TAS: Police swoop on gun dealer
Tasmanian Police have seized over 2000 guns worth thousands of dollars in an swoop on a New Town gun dealer. A dozen uniform and palin clothes officer were involved in the operation.
US 'loses' 190,000 weapons in Iraq
THE US Government cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, says the Government Accountability Office. According to its July 31 report, the military “cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces”.
Comment: Here's a thought; ban government gun ownership.
NZ: Machineguns to star in auction
Two heavy machine guns owned by a Masterton gun collector are going under the hammer in Wellington this week. The World War I British Vickers machine gun and Czechoslovakian machine gun were the pride and joy of Masterton electrician Allan Nattrass, who died in a car crash near Solway Park in September.
Ebay bolsters anti-shooter credentials
In mid-August, we will be updating our Firearms, Weapons and Knives Policy to place more restrictions around gun-related items. Once these changes take effect, we will prohibit listings of any firearm part that is required for the firing of a gun. This includes items like bullet tips, brass casings and shells, barrels, slides, cylinders, magazines, firing pins, trigger assemblies, etc. Not really related, but interesting
Canada: U of T closes shooting range
"In today's world, even the perception of tolerance of guns and gun violence is seen as a negative," said Catherine Riggall, the university's vice-president of business affairs, who approved the decision recently. "This is the last university in the country to have a gun range on campus ... it's just not seen as a priority activity."
AK47: The Story of the People's Gun
There was a hint of a Russified Jack London in the childhood and adolescence of Mikhail Kalashnikov. The expanses of Siberia standing in for the Pacific north-west perhaps; there was an old rifle for hunting in the woods (and) the mysterious gift of an American Browning revolver.
Canada: Handgun ban off target
A salute to Nova Scotia Justice Minister Murray Scott, and Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil, for refusing to climb on the bandwagon being rolled out (yet again) by Ontario's Liberal government and Toronto Mayor David Miller. As Scott commented last week, "we need to zero in on the illegal firearms, as opposed to taking away firearms from people who use them in a lawful way."
Aboriginal leader raided for owning a toy gun
Spies watch rise of virtual terrorist
US: State trooper shoots himself in the hand
An off-duty state trooper accidentally shot himself in the hand Tuesday afternoon and was rushed to Central Maine Medical Center. Keith Frank, a former Auburn police officer and a veteran state trooper, shot himself in the left palm as he was entering his Pownal Road home in Auburn. Frank was taking the .45-caliber handgun off his belt when it went off, Auburn Sgt. Eric Audette said.
The man entered the Smokemart on South Road at 11.30pm and threatened staff with a gun before fleeing on a push bike with a small amount of money and two cartons of cigarettes.
VIC: Deadly state — tracking the killers among us
A criminologist at Bond Universaty,Dr Wayne Petherick, says that because firearms were not easily available in Australia, many homicides involved knives were committed by people known to the victim.
Comment: The salient fact is not that fewer homicide are committed with guns, it is that the Prime Minister's gun laws have done absolutely nothing to reduce the overall homicide rate.
UK: More shootings in "Gunchester".
Two separate shootings killed one person and wounded two others, including a teenager, in Manchester, a city known as "Gunchester" in the 1990s because of its widespread firearms crime. Related news item.
Comment: Fewer guns, more crime?
UK: Town placed on alert after two heifers escape
A town remains on alert, 24 hours after two heifers escaped from a cattle market, sparking the deployment of police marksmen. One cow has been shot dead but the other remains on the loose and police have renewed warnings that the half-ton animal is extremely dangerous.
Comment: Good grief, police marksmen! "The sky is falling, the sky is falling" w31
NSW: Man charged over armed home invasion
QLD: Beattie in Hanson's sights
PAULINE Hanson's new political party will not run candidates in Lower House seats at the upcoming federal election, but the former One Nation leader has warned Premier Peter Beattie she will take him on at the next state poll.
NSW: Father of five shot to death in car
A father of five was shot dead as he was about to leave for work in Sydney's west. Police said family members found the 37-year-old slumped in his black BMW sedan, which was parked in the driveway of his home in Aubrey St, South Granville, at 6.20 (AEST). It is believed the man was shot once in the head, but police have declined to confirm the details of his injury.