Looks like soon we'll be eating with our fingers

[Howard Quick]

Hi All,
This may be of interest to some of our fellow sword swinging friends.
ban on swords (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,4687854%255E661,00.html)

[Nathan Scott]

Hi Howard-san,

Thanks for the link. I gave them a piece of my mind in their comments option at the bottom.

Unfortunately, I discovered I don't have many pieces of my mind left at this point, and may have to ask for it back tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope you don't have to send your sword back to us! :-)

Happy swinging,

[Howard Quick]

Hi Nathan,
Man, you must stay up late!
I also wrote a lengthy letter to them, it will be interesting to see if they publish anything we wrote.
I first saw the article at 6am this morning. I'd just finished a night shift and one of my colleagues arrived to take over the shift, he brought the morning paper with him.
I was furious when I saw the article.
This is typical of media sensationalism and community knee jerk reactions.
We seem to be having more and more trouble with bladed weapons and the asian community here in Australia (particularly the Vietnamese). I believe it's a cultural thing but they need to realize it's not the Australian culture.
Oh! and NO I won't be giving the Kotetsu back!!!!:D

[Walker]

For Immediate Release

Attention all Australian Males.
Immediately report to the nearest Government Office and surrender your gonads.

End

[Howard Quick]

They'll have to pry them from my cold dead hands!!
But pretty funny Walker.

[Walker]

Sorry about that. Sounds tough over there.

BTW - was reading a British mag. last night and the “knife” laws there are astounding:

“It is a criminal offence to use any form of knife in an act of self-defense.”

“The criminal Justice Act made it an offence to possess any ‘bladed or sharply pointed article in public without good reason.‘”

I say, my good fellow, is that a sharply pointed article or are you just glad to see me?

“While the number of recorded murders is increasing, the amount that involve sharp instruments is quite stable.”

So I guess the law has had no effect except for further disarming the populace and the 24,500 odd people who ended up on the wrong side of the law for possessing offensive weapons.

Can I interest our former colonial masters in a Bill of Rights? ;)

[Howard Quick]

Hi all,
thanks for the replies.
I urge everyone to follow the link at the top of the thread to the article. At the bottom of the article is an area where you can have your say.PLEASE have your say. We need to let these people know that the things they are saying about 'samurai swords' and the people who collect and use them are totally incorrect. Just because some fools do the wrong things with swords does not mean we should all be tarred with the same brush.
:mad:

[Walker]

Quote from the great and underrated Whit Stillman film “Barcelona”

Spanish woman: ”Of course Americans are violent. Look at all of the shootings.”

Fred [an American]: “Oh shootings. We’re not more violent, we’re just better shots.”

:)

I’ve given up trying to figure out what you fellows over there are trying to accomplish. :(

[Walker]

Quote from the great and underrated Whit Stillman film “Barcelona”

Spanish woman: ”Of course Americans are violent. Look at all of the shootings.”

Fred [an American]: “Oh shootings. We’re not more violent, we’re just better shots.”

:)

I’ve given up trying to figure out what you fellows over there are trying to accomplish. :(

[shadow42]

quote from the article:

They are likely to be used when patrolling known trouble spots such as along Chapel St, where knife-wielding killers hacked James Huynh to death then taunted his cousins Viet and Nam Huynh as they drowned in the Yarra

First off, heres a guy who i am assuming from his last name is vietnamese. And his cousins names are viet and nam? Im not incredibly familiar with vietnamese naming conventions and customs but... seems odd.

On a more serious note, It sounds tough over there. I do hope you make it through, and you probably will, a lot of this sensationalist bs is just that, a sensation, and it usually passes before the burecrats can make anything of it. Well, i hope im right hehe! Good luck, and remember, if you were a ninja, you could hide your sword under the floorboard!

[Senjojutsu]

I wish you all well in the land down under; you have a beautiful country.

However you have a dangerous infestation.
A vermin called liberal, bleeding-heart politicians, the bureaucrats and judges they appoint, the idiot voters who put them in office, and their fellow travelers in the mass media infests Australia, England, most of Western Europe, and parts - but not all - of America and Canada. (Including my home state!)

When stories like this happen the liberals will attack the possession of the inanimate object - as opposed to assigning responsibility to the person who wielded the weapon.

Guns, swords, knives, crossbows anyone... it doesn't matter.

How many more must die before we pass a ban?

...is the mantra they always chant to the cameras - with the bubble-headed blonde TV desk anchors nodding in empathy!

Funny, more per capita firepower exists in Switzerland than in any other place in the world, yet it is one of the safest places to be.

I see from the story I inserted below, disarming the law-abiding British populace has done enormous good.

For the lawless scum who now thrive because of this vermin that was allowed in power.

===============================================
CRIME RATE UP AS BLAIR'S CLEAN-UP BID FLOPS
Jun 17 2002
By Paul Gilfeather


CRIME has risen six per cent over the past year, leaving Tony Blair's pledge to make the streets safer in tatters. The Prime Minister had promised to cut street crime by September.

But yesterday that looked impossible as it emerged there were 850 more offences every day compared with the previous year. The study is based on final figures from 33 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, plus forecasts from another nine.
The highest rises came in West Yorkshire (15 per cent), Suffolk (14 per cent), and Lincolnshire (11 per cent).

The surge has been fuelled by an increase in burglaries and muggings.

In Avon and Somerset burglaries were up by 29 per cent and street robbery by 77 per cent. The Metropolitan Police reported a five per cent rise in burglary and street crime was up by 38 per cent.

Chris Fox, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "A main cause has been an upturn in the use of harder drugs."

Government figures are due out next month. Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin said: "After 55 eye-catching but superficial initiatives, there is not any prospect of the Home Secretary making a serious impact on crime."

[ScottUK]

I can't believe I have just read this:

> Police Association assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie
> said samurai swords should be banned.

> "There is only one use for them. Their potential to
> inflict injury or death is obvious – it's been
> proven in the past. I don't think too many people are
> buying them as mementos," he said.

Are people of authority in Australia this dense? Visit one of Aus's many iaido/kendo/kenjutsu dojos to see the 'only use' for them.

Ban swords, it's the only way to stop deaths. Better still, ban those 'huge' kitchen knives becouse no-one *really* uses them do they? What? Professional chefs do? Oh, I'm sorry - just because I have no knowledge of their use, I assumed they had no place in society and thus have them banned. Well, guess what, the sword has it's place too.

The wheel's still turning, but the hamster's dead.


Scott

[INFINOO]

A few weeks ago in Calgary a man was "arrested" on a C-train because some women thought his katana in a sword bag was a long rife. There was even a piture of the cop holding the sword. Oh course they let the guy go and "gave" his sword back because "it's not against the law to walk down town on a train with a sword in a bag". Which the police didnt really want to admit on the news, but its true.
Anyways, in Canada they already got are guns restricted and buried in red tape, what stopping them from going for are knives nexted. After that "I bet money" governments around the world will ban the practice/studying and teaching of edged weapons or knife combatives all together. From there its a short jump to ban all martial arts.
Im "sure" everyone on E-Budo is already on a list.
Look at history my friends, it tends to repeat it self...OO


Gregory Rogalsky
Rogalsky Combatives International
Calgary Alberta Canada

[ScottUK]

Attention all Australian Males.

Immediately report to the nearest Government Office and surrender your gonads.
After reading the last post, this seems so close to the truth right now.

Scott