South Australia is set to outlaw the manufacture, sale, distribution, supply or possession of crossbows without lawful excuse by declaring them a ‘dangerous article’.
Crossbows are currently treated as an ‘offensive weapon’ which means it is against the law to carry it without lawful excuse.
“Now the Rann Government is going one step further so that crossbows can’t be manufactured, sold, or even possessed without lawful excuse in S.A.,” says Attorney-General Michael Atkinson.
“That means legitimate businesspeople servicing legitimate archery competitors can continue their business, but they can also be held responsible if they were to sell a crossbow to some dodgy character who clearly has no legitimate use for the crossbow.
“Certainly backyarders who have knocked together a crossbow and sold it to someone else for their criminal purposes will now be caught up by this change because the law will make them accountable for the role they played. It will apply to anyone who gave or lent a crossbow knowing it was to be used for a crime.
“The new Regulations will also carry far greater penalties, with an offender facing a fine of up to $7,500 or 18 months gaol. Current penalties for carrying an ‘offensive weapon’ are one third of that.
“It is important to note that we do not have a history of offences of violence using ordinary crossbows in S.A. however a South Australian manufacturer has admitted manufacturing and supplying a crossbow to a New South Wales teenager who deliberately injured two girls.”Mr Atkinson said
In 2003 the 16-year-old schoolboy threw a Molotov cocktail and fired a sharpened crossbow bolt at his former girlfriend from a distance of 2.5 metres, injuring them. He was found not guilty of attempted murder, but was convicted of two offences of malicious wounding with intent and with an offence of using a prohibited weapon.
The ban will come into effect next year.
2 comments:
They should do this with kitchen knives, cutlery, chop sticks, cigarettes...ohh i forgot mr Attorney-General you have a legitamate tax excuse to sell cigarettes and kill more people than all the crazed criminal crossbow owners combined. Forgot about that.
It isn't about being RATIONAL - it is about pandering to irrational FEAR and making people have MORE irrational FEAR, so you can make them THINK you care.
So yes, these laws are irrational and reactionary. They are intended to be irrational and reactionary.
They are created and passed by people who have no ethics, and are driven by serious psychological damage to grasp for power (like a teddy bear) and like an alcoholic, they can never have enough of their addiction of choice (power).
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