Senator says Australia a ‘nation of victims’
The man who took 17 people hostage in a cafe in Sydney, Australia, last month was carrying an illegally owned firearm, Australian police have said, according to the BBC.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that he wanted to know how the man, Haron Monis, was able to get a gun license despite a history of violence, instability and terrorist emails.
But New South Wales Police said Abbott had been given inaccurate information.
Two people died along with Monis when police stormed the Lindt cafe to end a 16-hour siege. Four other people, one a police officer, suffered gunshot wounds.
But the Australian Federal Police said it had since “confirmed that there is no record of Monis ever having held a firearms license,” and that the inaccurate information was based on one manual entry in a police reference database.
The incident has drawn a lot of somewhat surprising comment.
Australia is a “nation of victims” with citizens unable to properly protect themselves with weapons, pro-gun crossbench Australian Sen. David Leyonhjelm has said.
The Liberal Democrat said he wanted a calm, measured discussion about the right to “practical self-defense” in the wake of the deadly Sydney siege.
“What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or perhaps even Switzerland as well,” Leyonhjelm told the ABC’s AM program.
“Statistically speaking” in those jurisdictions, “one or two of the victims” would have had a concealed gun, he said.
“We’ve got tougher laws, they were introduced by the Government just in the last few months, they did nothing to prevent this bloke from committing evil acts in the name of Islamism,” Leyonhjelm said.
President Barack Obama reiterated that Washington stood ready to provide assistance following the siege and praised Australia’s ‘tough’ gun control laws
Machineguns growing as tourist attraction
With 10 shooting lanes, eight-inch concrete walls lined with steel plates, high-end bullet traps, and a dual-air system for a cool and fresh atmosphere, Machine Gun America may just seem like a luxury gun range, but its owners say otherwise. Instead, the facility is touted as Orlando’s first “Automatic Adrenaline Attraction” and opened its doors in December, according to OutdoorHub.com.
Racks of AK rifles, Thompson submachineguns, and the iconic Uzi are offered to visitors to try out, along with other automatic weapons in what is described as a tourist attraction “unlike any other experience in the country.”
The live shooting experiences will include themed packages featuring some of the most famous firearms from around the world,” said the facility’s safety and training director, Wes Doss, in a press release.
Machine Gun America’s owners say that it is not a gun range per se because visitors are not allowed to bring their own firearms. That is not to mean that the attraction is not for gun owners, in fact the company expects that many of its guests will be shooting enthusiasts who want to experience firing classic or expensive firearms.
“We’ve had people who have never touched a firearm in their life, and then we have people who are aficionados,” general manager Bruce Nierenberg told the New York Daily News regarding pre-opening guests.
“MGA provides the excitement of a machine gun shoot akin to the Los Vegas facilities, but with a twist,” Doss told OutdoorHub. “The ranges are overbuilt and the number-one concern for our staff is safety. What it can offer people, whether they are enthusiasts or just curious, is the experience of trying out a collection of museum-quality pieces that go from World War One to our current generation of modern firearms.”
The weapons at the facility have been separated into different “themes,” such as the infamous firearms used by mafia enforcers in “Gangster Land.” Guests can also indulge in a bit of virtual gun play with immersion simulators that can accommodate four people at once.
“Train like the professionals in the military-grade simulators that look and feel like real live action, but are not,” stated the company. “Using leading technology, firearms are converted for simulator use so that guests can experience the thrill, sound and kick like the real thing—but they are just lasers hitting virtual targets.”
It is a different story with the actual firing range, where guests will be handling a variety of semiautomatic and automatic guns. Safety is a very big concern for the facility, and regardless of firearm experience, each shooter is assisted by their own range safety officer or instructor. Children as young as 13 will be able to enter the range, although there are some restrictions on which weapons they will be allowed to handle and a parent must be present.
Machine Gun America’s location in Orlando’s Old Town Amusement Center, roughly six miles away from Disney World, has already drawn both interest and some criticism, mostly from anti-gunners.
2014 a banner year for government FOIAs
In all, more Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits were brought against the federal government in 2014 than in any year since at least 2001, according to the group FOIA Project.
Not surprisingly, the top defendant was the Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Eric Holder, and the DOJ’s various sub-organizations, such as the FBI.
Reporters for The New York Times, Mother Jones and Vice News filed the most FOIA lawsuits in 2014, according to the group the FOIA Project, Politico.com reported.
Vice News reporter Jason Leopold filed eight freedom of information suits in 2014. Though he joined Vice News only in August, Vice is now backing Leopold’s cases, Politico said. Shane Bauer, a reporter for Mother Jones filed two suits. The only news organization listed as a plaintiff was The Times, which filed five suits, four of which list reporter Charlie Savage as a co-plaintiff.
