Before I say anything this issue, I would like to quote the last line in my editorial of the last issue, May 1996: “Lets hope that next month there is no major news article related to human suffering that warrants publication.”
Having said those words as my last line last month, I feel heartbroken about the recent events that occurred in Port Arthur, Tasmania. I was hoping to print about six pages of technology and internet news, but due to the recent events, these articles will be held over until the next issue.
The accused mass murderer, Martin Bryant, made a court appearance on Wednesday, May 22, using TV video conferencing from his hospital-prison cell, as it was believed to be too risky to bring him into the courtroom.
The actual hearing lasted no more than g0 seconds, and he was only charged with one of the murders.
I beg readers to write to VicNews, particularly those who feel that the death penalty should be reintroduced, as I do.
In this case, ‘an eye for an eye’ is still unfair to the victims, as he doesn’t have to suffer all that much. A reader’s excellent suggestion was to feed him to the lions at the zoo,
so the public can watch him suffer in absolute agony. It is the way it should be.
One good move the Tasmanian Government is making is to introduce legislation that allows the seizing of all property belonging to criminals to pay compensation to the victims of crime.
I am absolutely sure that there is thousands of other Australians out there who feel that the death penalty should be reintroduced and the gun lobby should lose a battle for once.
With the Queen and Hoddle Street massacres, the then Labor Party was going to introduce tough new gun laws, but the gun lobby stepped in, which resulted in some of the proposals being dropped, lt is good to see, at this stage, that Mr Howard refuses to back down to the gung-ho gun-happy loons of this country.
We all only have to look at the US to know what the results of a ‘right to bear arms’ policy have. More people are murdered in the US than in Melbourne. The New York Police Department last year said it was ‘pleased with statistics that showed only 198,567 murders had occurred over one year in the NYPD district.
Do you want Australia to be the next ‘everyone carries a gun’ country?
U.S. high school students are searched almost daily, particularly in LA, for weapons and firearms by police and metal detectors, as they don’t have playground fights like we have, they have playground shoot-outs with live ammunition.
l’ve got three words for the gun-happy, gun lobby of Australia: MOVE TO AMERICA.
On a better note, the next issue is the Olympic Special Edition for the Summer Olympics, which are less than two months away.
Other major sports news is the two State-Of-Origin football matches to be played on the first weekend in June, and the results will be in the July issue.
Sorry, no Rugby as we are VICTORIAN.
Until next month, think tech and keep surfin’.
This is a reprint of an original editorial from the June 1996 print edition of VicNews. You can read the original edition here.
