Sorry Bindi, but my understanding is you CAN use a firearm for self defence, and i believe it has been done and defended in courts. But you are correct, the question is how did you get it out of the safe so quickly...... "officer, i was cleaning it at the time"
Self defence in Australia is using methods not disproportionate to the threat. You cant shoot an un armed intruder.. but thats the wonderful country of Australia that we life in. Handguns on the streets are very rare, common criminals very very rarely will be armed with firearms of any types as they are harder to get.
When you do hear of armed break ins, you can almost be guaranteed that the victim was "known to police". Most of this type of crime is criminal v criminal. Typically bikies/drug dealers taking on rival dealers.
As so many of the Australians , or past residents have said above, no gun culture, minimal guns in general society, and most of us dont feel at danger of an armed breakin to our house, or a shooting in the mall.... because it VERY rarely happens.
There will always be people in our society that wear tin foil hats, think the government is out to do them harm, and feel like they need a gun to protect themselves (generally from people that think like they do).. but they are the few.
