At 16:52 19/07/99 +0200, Martin William Smith wrote:


>In Australia, what kind of hunting requires a pump action shotgun?
>Hunting the man-eating roo?

As I understand it, the various wild pigs around are difficult to bring
down with a .22, and if you miss with your shotgun, you don't often get
time to reload.  However, I'd still prefer trapping to shooting... hunters
are just lazy ;-)

>I agree that a spare should be allowed.  But I still don't see a need
>for a pump action shotgun in Australia.  On the other hand, if the
>decision were to eliminate all private handgun ownership but allow a
>pump action shotgun or two, I would accept.

I think that decision was mostly made.  The down side being that the cops
got semi-automatic pistols instead of the revolvers they were using.  They
shoot enough people as it is...

Alister