CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

The AFP have today commented on what the Daily Telegraph has described as a “national embarrassment” – Australia’s dramatic rise in sternly-worded letters.

“Australians represent one of the largest contributors to sternly-written letters in the developed world,” said high-ranking AFP official, Doug Hole

“Out of the 18 million stern letters received globally in 2019, Australia was responsible for at least eight million of them,”

“These letters range from your run-of-the-mill customer complaints, passive aggressive thank-you letters to drunken wedding guests and, of course, half-hearted death threats to former employers”

Sergeant Hole went on to explain that these endemic rates of stroppy correspondence is a direct result of the Howard Government’s National Gun Buy-Back scheme in 1996, and the subsequent legislation regarding gun ownership to be put in place since then.

“From the moment high-powered machine guns were regulated, we have seen a concerning jump in the rates of Australians venting through the power of the pen,”

The Betoota Advocate's editor Clancy Overell retrieves a copy of his nephew Lincoln Overell's correspondence with an anonymous Australian telecommunications provider. A letter than reconfirmed his title as "the black sheep of the Overell Family"
The Betoota Advocate’s editor, Clancy Overell, retrieves a copy of his nephew Lincoln Overell’s correspondence with an anonymous Australian telecommunications provider. The letter that reconfirmed his title as “the black sheep of the Overell Family”

“It is a concern, yes. One that proves very testing for our nation’s Human Resources sector,”

The Betoota Advocate spoke with Monash University professor, Dr Eileen Dover about this issue. She says it’s a discussion Australia is not yet ready to have.

“Once upon a time, middle-class Australians were able to deal with their angst, frustrations and crippling mental derangements in a much more efficient manner,”

“That being, the act of purchasing a firearm at their local hunting store, and then, pending on background checks, firing it at innocent people before turning it on themselves,”

“Howard has dramatically changed the way our most sociopathic citizens communicate,”

Protestors hold up offensive signs when confronted with Howard's gun laws, to no avail.
Protestors hold up offensive signs when met with the early incarnation of Howard’s gun laws, to no avail.

“Gone are the days where they were able to get sufficient attention by simply walking into a department store or playground. They are now left to deal with a web of consumer relations bureaucrats,”

Dr Dover went on to explain that mentally ill firearm enthusiasts should not have to pay for the actions of one overly-enthusiastic firearm owner in 1996.

The Port Arthur massacre in 1996 transformed gun control legislation in Australia. This mass killing took place at the notorious former convict prison in Tasmania.
The Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, immediately took the gun law proposals developed from the report of the 1988 National Committee on Violence and forced the states to place bans on all semi-automatic rifles and all semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns. A tightly restrictive system of licensing and ownership controls was also put in place. There has not been reports of gun massacres since.
But there has been a lot of stern letters, leaving many to ask what is worse.
MORE TO COME.
Prime Minister John Howard introduces new gun control while wearing a bullet proof vest. A very bold play that left the Australian gun lobby looking like deranged hillbillies
Prime Minister John Howard introduces new gun control while wearing a visible bullet proof vest. A very bold play that left the Australian gun lobby looking like deranged hillbillies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. So the US didn’t have a reform, but follow the same trend downwards from the “1996” reforms in Australia?

    Using those statistics, the USA rate has dropped ~4.5 deaths per 100,000 whereas Australia has only managed to obtain a decrease in ~2.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

    Effectively, the USA has doubled the reduction in deaths per 100,000 people in the same period as what Australia has, without the introduction of any “miracle” gun reform that occurred here in Australia…

    Interesting… So can we really conclude that the gun reforms have been as effective as they were made out to be? Or are we just following the same trend seen in the USA?

  2. Russel, look at the graph harder.

    The US rate has dropped, but it went from 15 to about 12, whereas the Aussie rate went from 3.5 to 1.

    We have achieved a 70% reduction but they have achieved a 20% reduction. The graph is confusing because they are using to separate axes.

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