Australia Without Guns

It's illegal in Australia cities to carry even a small pocket knife--unless you have a "good reason" to do so. But the "good reason" restriction there is an easy one to pass. One is that it is a "useful tool" in your life. Another is "food preparation." In America, they regularly abuse the "good reason" requirement. In Australia, they don't, much. In the "outback," knives are freely sold in many stores, and universally carried by most people. Just not in the cities, and not in schools or bars. Knives are carried in "the outback" because there is always a "good reason" to carry them, and the cops rarely stop people for a search. They have almost completely banned guns for the law-abiding (but the NON-law-abiding still carry them, as usual), so knives and other kinds of weapons are popular with the law-abiding. And as quickly as people come up with effective weapons, "the authorities" try to ban them or make them difficult, or impossible to carry, as they do in America. But it's a losing proposition, since even a heavy ashtray can be a deadly weapon, and who wants to ban heavy ashtrays? (Gun Watch)