Rifles, Knives, and Democracy

It's only taken 3 months, but this has finally crossed my computer screen.

Check out this link: http://www.sportingshootermag.com.au/news/ridiculous-new-knife-laws-in-qld

Please understand this about me.  I don't believe that pistols have a place in society.  They are only for one thing.  Killing people.

But knives and rifles do.

Knives are useful for many functions.  I, for one, wouldn't go into the bush without one.  Useful for cutting food, making kindling, building a lean-to, and eating.  On the street, I wouldn't expect to see a builder, electrician or even mechanic without one.  The old law covers these exceptions, but the new laws don't.

Rifles are used for hunting.  There are many issues regarding feral animals, especially pigs, where a rifle is the preferred method for bringing them down.  Landowners should all have one.

These items are useful in day to day life.  They also empower the people.

This is Historical Fact.  The only time power was removed the King, particularly in British History, was when the King needed some people to fight his foreign wars.  The Barons and nobility understood this, and wrangled the Magna Carta out of him, divesting power.  When the longbow was used at Agincourt, and was so successful, the nobles understood, as well as the archers, that power had shifted again.

Then Guns came.  All the expensive armour in all the world couldn't keep the bullets out.  And democracy- because those who had the power began to fear those who didn't- was reborn.  Politics came back to the people.

A refresher course was learned twice in succession.  Once by the events in Colonial America, and again in France.  And democracy in England was assured.

The American constitution recognizes Tyranny- both foreign and domestic- as a threat to the entire country.  This is why the founding fathers of America enshrined  the right to bare arms- in organized militia- within the constitution.  But the governments of Australia, both Federal and State, seem only interested in stripping the right from the people, disempowering their governed population.

To what end?

If its for my own protection, then please, I'd rather have my freedom- to a point.  I do still prefer a society that recognizes the rule of law.

I'm just not sure about a society that recognizes the rule of poor ones.  These new restrictions are overkill.  I can't understand why they bothered changing a law that worked just fine.