Should Australians be legally able to carry non-lethal weapons for self-defence?
There was 24,957 cases of sexual assault in 2017, which was 8% higher then the year before. It’s extremely horrifying to see that 82% of sexual assaults victims are females and a quarter are aged 19 or younger. In just Victoria alone the amount of sexual assault cases in 2017 went up 13%. All these incidents could have be prevented if they had some way of defending themselves. The issue that is being argued to help lower these numbers is Should Australians be legally able to carry non- lethal weapons for self-defence? The answer is yes; Australians should be able to carry non-lethal weapons.‘Non-lethal weapons’ are referring to items such as mace and pepper spray. The reason why this controversy is being brought up is because Jeffery Bourman, Victorian MP with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, made post on Facebook that he was going to put a motion to the Victorian Legislative Council because he wanted people to have the option of non-lethal methods of self-defence such as pepper spray.' Then on the June 28, 2018, senator Fraser Anning, of Katter's Australian Party, made the same motion but sadly it was defeated 46 to five. The are valid reasons why Australians should be able to carry non-lethal weapons is for one the legitimate fear of being attacked, two that police are not able to stop every attack and lastly other countries have it.
The first argument is about the fear associated with the chance of being attacked and having no way to defend yourself. Women in particular, most feel unsafe walking in place alone at night. In 2016, 600 girls from all over Australia between the ages 15-19 participated in a survey, the age group chosen also have the highest rates of being highest sexual in Australia. From the result it was determined that 30% believe that after dark girls should not go into public places. 23% said on public transport girls should not travel alone. Lots of the participants also added that they wished there was better ways to access training or information about how to protect themselves from violence. In June 2018, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, sally Capp commented after the death of Eurydice Dixon about how she felt about her safety at night her answer was “No..” she also explained ways that she wished people would follow to stay safe“ but at the end of the day we should all be able to move around our city safely.” Victoria's police minister, Lisa Neville also commented about how she felt and that “as a woman (she) want(s) to be able to be safe in (her) community. Unfortunately, that's not the case and we've got a lot of work to do.” It is a real problem when people in these high roles are afraid to walk in the streets at night. Non-lethal device are a reasonable and practical method to lessen that fear. Shouldn’t it be a human right to feel safe in your own country or should that be illegal as well?
Secondly, police will not alway be able to prevent all assaults. Police also know this it is not un- known to them and they have admitted that this is true. Some have said that civilians should have access to self-defence items for this reason. In the federal parliament Senator Fraser Anning’s has been advocating the restrictions of items such as pepper spray and mace to be lessened. Justifying that “police cannot be everywhere at all times so in order to ensure citizens are protected from harm, all citizens must have the absolute right to self-defence.” Senator David Leyonhjelm stated in an opinion piece that “In particular, women and the elderly do not believe that relying on the police to arrive in time will keep them safe. If asked, most would unequivocally demand the right to practical self-defence, at least with non-lethal means.” In his piece he also mentioned that “The police can't be everywhere. They acknowledge that. The sensible ones, at least, say it takes (them) five, 10, 15 minutes even in the city to be there. By that stage you can have a lot of victims.” These statements from police show that even some of them believe that non lethal weapon should be available for the public. Australia police will always try their best to keep everyone safe but it is currently an unavoidable situation that they can not stop every crime. Non-lethal self defence items can prevent a situation from occurring or delay situation until the police can come.
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Lastly non-lethal defence devices are legal in other countries. Objects such as Mace or pepper spray is generally used worldwide by both police and civilians for self defence. Places like the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Israel; people can buy them of the shelves as they are seen as legal self defence items. In Austria and the Czech Republic the police encourage vulnerable people such as women and pensioners to carry pepper spray around.
Currently in Western Australia is the only state in Australia that allows the use of non-lethal considering them as controlled weapons. People there if on 'reasonable grounds' they feel unsafe and believe they are in need of 'lawful defence.'If other countries are able to have non-lethal items to defend themselves them why can’t we. If it is helping others then it can also help Australians. Now people will say that it is just giving another weapon for criminals to use. And they wouldn’t be complete wrong but their argument is flawed. It is the law in Australia currently that “you can’t carry, possess or use a weapon to hurt people or to defend yourself,” but this still doesn’t stop some people from doing so. For example knives, a weapon that can actually kill people, everyone has them in their house and it also the most used identified weapon in homicide and other related offences. Also it is legal to learn Martial, which teach people how to fight others and people die from this violence every week. The point that I am making is that no matter what there are still way for people to hurt others but there should at least be tools in order to protect ourselves from others that wise to harm us.
What I would like to conclude with you is that non lethal can help people. It can help make people feel safe to walk around place at night, not scared of the possibility of being attack and having no way of defending yourself. It can help those situations were police can not be there in time or at all. We would not the first country to use non lethal weapons and we shouldn’t be that last one without them. Non lethal item are a self defence tool that people should have access to in Australia.
Bibliography
- https://www.echoeducation.com.au/schools/doca2018/2018spray/index.php
- https://www.plan.org.au/media/media-releases/survey-finds-one-third-australian-girls-report-not-feeling-safe-in-public-places-after-dark
- https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2018-mid&displayColumn=0
- http://crimestats.aic.gov.au/facts_figures/1_victims/
- https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/think/the-number-of-sexual-assaults-recorded-in-australia-keeps-increasing/news-story/e276581ac8196fcb961bbb0066c94484
- https://www.echoeducation.com.au/schools/doca2018/2018spray/index.php
- https://www.plan.org.au/media/media-releases/survey-finds-one-third-australian-girls-report-not-feeling-safe-in-public-places-after-dark
- https://www.plan.org.au/media/media-releases/survey-finds-one-third-australian-girls-report-not-feeling-safe-in-public-places-after-dark
- https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2018-mid&displayColumn=0
- http://crimestats.aic.gov.au/facts_figures/1_victims/
- https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/think/the-number-of-sexual-assaults-recorded-in-australia-keeps-increasing/news-story/e276581ac8196fcb961bbb0066c94484
- https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/think/the-number-of-sexual-assaults-recorded-in-australia-keeps-increasing/news-story/e276581ac8196fcb961bbb0066c94484
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