Solutions to violence problems in South Australia
5AA (Adelaide), Mornings, 07/10/2008 10:06am
Compere Leon Byner refers to the three shootings in Gouger St in five months and the bloke knifed several times at Norwood, the brawl at Richmond Oval and the drug-alcohol football carnival, which required 80 police to attend. He says the most extraordinary thing to come out of this mayhem is a call from Police Minister [Michael] Wright to shut down a nightclub, as supported by Mayor [Michael] Harbison. He says it wasn’t the nightclub that took a firearm into the city and shot it off, but it was allegedly a 23 year old man who had a firearm, which he thinks was obtained illegally. He says the crims seem to have carte blanche to firearms and the key to the city to do whatever they like. He says we’re told how we have more police than ever before yet when we need them, they’re nowhere to be found. He says Premier Rann is in China trying to lure students to SA. He says international guests will not come or stay here if we cannot curb the violence and mayhem that we saw on the weekend. He thinks the passive policing idea of playing Brahms or Tchaikovsky to shoo away drug dealers and shutting off a street to cars to reduce fights are ‘woozy-pussy’ remedies.
Caller Lorry wonders if they will suddenly do what John Howard did, that is to ban all guns. He says the legal gun owners and target shooters get the kick in the head everytime these idiots get out on the street and do all sorts of stupid things. He says that years ago, there would be a cop on the beat all night up and down the main streets and says you don’t see that now.
Lawyer Simon Slade says that increasing penalties, as suggested by Bob Such and Dennis Hood, misses the point entirely. He says we already have high penalties for a whole load of firearms offences. He says most of these people have no respect for the law and whatever penalties won’t stop them. He says that what they need is to be really worried that any time they do anything wrong, they will get caught. Slade says that it’s interesting that the nightclub, that the Advertiser has refused to name for legal reasons, had a couple of very senior MPs who were at its official opening. He says it’s a bit of a turnaround now to find out that they all think that it’s an inappropriate place for them.
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