I see the government has announced a gun amnesty to “get illegal weapons off the street” according to Justice Minister Michael Keenan. On ABC TV he indicated “Grandfather’s old gun” needed to be handed in. From today’s Oz;

Mr Keenan said the amnesty was aimed at reducing the number of guns in the “illegal and grey market”. “Some of that will be somebody who might have grandpa’s old gun in the back shed that wasn’t registered that we want handed in,” he said But the Justice Minister did not explain how the government would entice criminals to hand in their illegal firearms.

The last sentence is the killer. I can’t see the Middle Eastern organized crime gangs in western Sydney, the Melbourne drug syndicates nor the Bikie gangs having round table discussions as to how best they can get all their illegal weapons collected and handed in. Isn’t going to happen but some ordinary guy will hand in Grandfather’s gun for altruistic reasons, the government will say “look how we are dealing with the problem” and they aren’t. In the case of Farhad Jabhar who shot and killed Curtis Cheng at Parramatta in October, he didn’t have legal access to firearms. Nor did he have a firearms licence or own a firearm. The weapon used, a handgun, wasn’t legally registered.. Alameddine, who gave the gun to Jabhar allegedly sourced the weapon from a Middle Eastern organised crime gang operating in western Sydney. This type of weapon, it appears, may be obtained for a few hundred dollars. The government can’t legislate criminals into law abiding citizens. That takes policing and a good start would be increasing surveillence of imports as indicated by this link which highlights gun smuggling through Australia Post. Again from The Oz;

The bottom line is that Australia’s laws don’t allow easy access to firearms, and lawful access to semiautomatic or automatic weapons is extremely restricted and heavily monitored. But the problem in counter-terrorism isn’t those who operate within Australia’s gun laws: it’s the criminal alliance between the gangs that control the illegal firearms markets and the terrorists they’ll trade with. We need an enhanced understanding of the crossover points to combat both national security challenges.

Policing, not legislation.

JP work Sunday morning. I’ve just authorized a Search Warrant for the police to search the residence of a woman who has been accused of injecting heroin and using methamphetamines (Ice) in the presence of her 12 month old baby. She has also been accused of telling her older kids that they can get their first heroin hit when their age reaches double figures. As in 10 years old! My daughter and her 1 month old baby should be here soon for coffee – that should cheer me up.

Perth, WA. A shark described by witnesses as more than 5.3m long has killed a 60-year-old woman at a popular reef off Perth’s northern suburbs, the second fatal shark attack in five days in Western Australia.

Yesterday’s death, the 15th fatal shark attack in Western Australia since 2000, has brought fresh scrutiny to the Barnett government’s divisive shark mitigation strategy.

The scrutiny is from the Greens and their mates on Sea Sheppard who believe that sharks are higher up the food chain than humans and that no one should try and make beaches safe. It is the shark’s domain, don’t you know! Well yes, it is.  Just as the North Queensland rivers are the croc’s territory, however it is also ours.  Humans have been going down to the sea and rivers since we started and using them as a transport route or a source of food. So doing nothing is not an answer.  Crocs in the northern part of  Australia need culling. There are more than 150,000 of the critters and local tourist mobs say there are more in the north than anywhere in the world. More than anywhere else because the Greens have the power of veto with anything that you can tag the word “Eco” on. I’m not sure that longstanding use of baited hooks – or drum lines – in regions such as Queensland is the way to go.  This article says no but since 2000 there have been 5 Queensland deaths compared to WA’s 10 and considering Queensland has a greater population then there has to be something in it. Australia has more crocodiles than anywhere else and more shark fatalities . Surely that’s a case to do something. Maybe this gives us hope- from Wikipedia;

Shark Shield is a personal electronic device that creates an electromagnetic field to deter shark attacks and is used by surfers, scuba divers,spearfishing, and ocean kayak fishing. The electrical wave-form used in the Shark Shield is based on a technology originally invented by theKwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board of South Africa in the 1990s, releasing the SharkPOD (Protective Oceanic Device or simply POD).The Shark Shield device was developed by the Australian company SeaChange Technology Pty Ltd, and commercialized by its trading company Shark Shield Pty Ltd established in October 2006.

Sea Change Technology are in South Australia

The field is projected from two electrodes, which create an elliptical field that surrounds the user. Both electrodes must be immersed in the water for the field to be created. Research conducted by The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) in 2012 estimated the Shark Shield electrical field to be approximately four to five meters in diameter.

Wow! The Safas have a space agency – who knew. The generated field doesn’t seem big enough to protect an entire beach but if the Safa’s Space Agency(I still can’t believe it) can do something, can CSIRO or private enterprise extend the range? Whatever, we need to do something and soon. Stop listening to the Greens, ignore Sea Sheppard, net the beaches and do some serious research. Here’s a chance for Malcom or Bill to do something to really help.  In the midst of a frenzied spendathon how about a bit of seed money for research. Link to The South African National Space Agency (SANSA).  A search for Shark Shield doesn’t get any results but it does prove it exists