Gun Control -- Australians Lose Rights To Bear Arms; U.S. Owners Will Resist

I refer to Michelle Malkin's Sept. 30 column, "Blurring the line between self harm and social harm," and the wire-service photo headlined "Australia scraps military weapons" in the same day's editions.

The photo's headline implies that the nation of Australia has suddenly turned pacifist; only by reading the caption does one learn that it is not the nation, but the citizens, who are losing their weapons. Nowhere does the reader learn that it is not military weapons that are being surrendered, but common civilian rifles and shotguns.

Specifically, every Australian citizen has had to surrender every semiautomatic or pump-action rifle or shotgun, in every caliber (handguns were taken up previously). By no stretch of definition are these guns "military"; they are the most mundane rifles and shotguns, commonly used for hunting, target shooting, and as essential tools on farms and ranches all over the country. Once again, Commonwealth citizens are finding that prior registration makes them completely vulnerable to a government that wants to impose "warm-'n'-fuzzy totalitarianism" (Ms. Malkin's cautionary phrase).

This is why U.S. gun owners will always resist a registration scheme such as Initiative 676, no matter what disguise it travels under. Joseph E. Boling Federal Way