You Are Either With Us Or Against Us!
Up until this moment, Australia has been pretty laid back about Sovereign Citizens and their ridiculous carry on about their rights. Unlike many other countries, where if you went around saying, ‘your laws do not apply to me,’ you would be arrested and locked up. Now, however, one of these so-called ‘freedom fighters’ has killed 2 cops in cold blood and wounded another. On this basis, the party is over folks! No more cutting these people slack. It is time to declare them domestic terrorists and to proscribe them on this basis. There is no place for individuals in this nation going around claiming that they are immune from our laws. You are either with us or against us!
Armed Sovereign Citizens = Domestic Terrorists
The fact that some of these Sovereign Citizens have guns, usually those residing in regional areas, makes this move more urgent. It is time to get the guns out of the hands of the general population, more broadly, this is not the United States of America. We are not an extremist nation of killers, and this horrendous murderous behaviour is not in our MO. The influence of extremist right-wing Americans via the internet, especially during and since the global pandemic, has taken some folk down this rabbit hole. I would say to these few individuals, ‘go and live over there if you want to go around shooting your neighbours and the police.’ Australia is not the place for you!
Australians Are Either All In Or Out
In the past, Australia has maintained a tacit policy of largely ignoring extremists and hoping they will go away or grow out of it. Guns make this no longer a sensible way to handle things. Social media has been a windfall for extremist groups, as well, as they can nourish their cells free of geographical limitations. The old ‘leave well enough alone’ policies are outdated, and it is time to become proactive in dealing with these Sovereign Citizens. We cannot have armed people going around saying, ‘your laws do not apply to me.’ You are either with us or against us? Every Australian must ask themself, ‘am I a part of this nation?’ You do not get to pick and choose what laws you obey. You can peacefully and civilly attempt to get laws changed through the proper channels, but you cannot just opt out on a whim when it suits you. We cannot run a country on that basis.
Get The Guns Out Of The Bush
Being an Australian is not like shopping online for the best deal – you do not get to pick and choose stuff. It is all in or out. You may not agree with some things, but such is life. You could work to change stuff on this basis but not with guns and violence. It is time for the rest of us to get serious about dealing with such dangerous individuals, who do not want to play by the same rules as the rest of us. Australia is a wonderful nation, and we now have to protect it from those wishing to do it and us harm. We need to get the guns out of the bush and stop waiting around for the next Wieambilla, the next Porepunkah. Crazy people and angry people cannot have weapons at their disposal. This is not America – thank God.
“About 10.30am on Tuesday, 10 police were attending a rural property in Porepunkah to execute a search warrant when they were fired upon. Two officers were killed and another was wounded. The officers killed were detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson, 59, and senior constable Vadim De Waart, 35. Thompson, who was on the verge of retirement, joined Victoria police in 1987 and spent seven years in general duties at Collingwood police station before working as a detective at the major fraud squad and the state crime squad. De Waart had only recently arrived in Wangaratta when the shooting occurred. He started his policing career at the Victoria Police Academy in late 2018 and worked for three years at St Kilda police station before joining the public order response team as a senior constable in April 2023.
The police officer who was wounded has had surgery. He was in a stable condition at the Alfred hospital in Melbourne on Wednesday morning.
According to the chief commissioner of Victoria police, Mike Bush, the officers were “met by the offender, and they were murdered in cold blood”.
On Wednesday, Bush named the suspect as 56-year-old Dezi Freeman, or Desmond Filby, whom he described as “heavily armed” and said he “understands bushcraft well”. He said Freeman had been able to run into the bush near the property alone immediately after the shooting.
Bush said the team who went to Freeman’s property was made up of local officers and members of the sexual offences and child abuse team: “It’s a large area, so it required a large number of staff to search the area and also search for technology.”
Too Many Guns!
“I am sitting there in my armchair trawling through movie possibilities on streaming services. There are a lot of films featuring guns, just in case you have been living in a cave for the last 25 years and may have missed this. Mostly dumb American movies featuring actors brandishing weapons like they are magical talismans. The biggest guns attracting more attention from an adolescent audience that seemingly never grows up. Lots of guys watch flicks with actors playing with toy guns pretending to be baddies and tough hombres.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; Money Matters and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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