Wednesday, August 22, 2007
THINK OF THE CHILDREN
Australian gun owners are among our most regulated citizens, subject to a huge range of laws and limits. As are our gun shops. Yet firearm fear is rousing some Sydney residents to panic:
Andrew Peter, a gun enthusiast and coffee shop owner from Bondi Junction, made an application last month to turn an old printing shop into a sporting goods and firearms store ...
The shop is opposite a community hall that runs a preschool centre. It is also near a bus interchange used by schoolchildren, and some neighbouring businesses say the approval, although legal, is inappropriate.
No greater condemnation exists.
Lisa Warrand is one of dozens of parents who fear the worst: the potential for an armed hold-up and shootout, or merely having to explain to children who walk past every day why a shop sells guns.
An armed hold-up? Of a gun shop? Those are relatively rare, for reasons that should be obvious. A shootout? Not too many of those take place around gun shops, either. Explaining to kids why shops sell guns? Try this: “For hunting and recreational use.” Not so difficult, really.
“Roseville has five churches and no pubs. People buy in this area because they want a more family-focused area,” she said yesterday. “We teach children about how bad guns are and yet we are being put into a position where we have to explain why there is a man in the car park carrying a gun bought across the road.”
Probably because he wants to kill everybody. It’s the main motivation of most licensed gun owners, surely.
Sally Cochrane runs the Zest hairdressing salon a few doors away. She concedes that the chances of a hold-up are slim but says it is a risk that should rule out the shop from the neighbourhood.
Pressed, Sally might concede that the likelihood of her store being held up is greater; few bandits are repelled by curling wands, after all.
“Children and guns don’t mix. It’s as simple as that, and if there is a robbery then it could be disastrous. I accept that this man has a right to open his shop and to sell guns, but not here.”
Given the suburb’s apparent widespread gun antipathy, why is Andrew Peter seeking to open his store there? The answer will terrify Lisa and Sally:
One of the main reasons for his decision was the estimated 1300 firearm owners who live in the area.
Gasp! Some of them might live near children.