We had a gang related stabbing

in the CBD over the weekend.  Someone lost their life. Multiple people are now in custody. It was headline news.

Unlike some places gang related violence is very rare here. Yes, it happens but not on a daily or even weekly basis. There have been murders among rival bikie groups but most people here do not carry weapons. For many years our police force did not carry firearms. There was no need.

I detest the idea of fire arms being freely available to everyone. They should be restricted. Farmers may need them to put an injured animal down but most people do not. I do not see "shooting" as a sport. Duck hunting is something I find repulsive. There have to be other ways to control the environment.

It is more difficult to control the use of items such as knives. The Senior Cat used to carry a pocket knife around in his trouser pocket at home. I know. I accidentally washed it more than once. It was a genuine Swiss army knife. I doubt he used it for anything more than cutting binder twine in the garden. Brother Cat took it with him when he left. He packed it into a box of small things he was taking with him. It was well hidden from view. There was no reason for this other than safety. We are concerned about such things. Like our father my brother will only use it around the house. Yes, pocket knives can be useful.

The knife used in the stabbing will not have been a pocket knife. The boy - not yet legally and adult - who did the stabbing was not the only one to be carrying an illegal and offensive weapon.  He came from another state and he apparently flew in. He would not have been able to get something like that past the airport security in this country - and rightly so. While it might - just - still be possible for people to put together a 3D printed gun in the air it is very unlikely someone would get away with carrying a knife on board.

No, it would have been given to him here - with instructions as to who was to be attacked, and where and when. All that is unusual too.  We have not had much of that sort of violence here. There are instances of teenage gang violence of course there are but the actual bodily harm which occurs has often been at the lower end of the scale. The rare knock-out blows, the sort where someone is killed due to the injury which occurs when they fall and hit their head, lead to convictions of manslaughter rather than murder. There is rarely an intention to kill even if there is an intention to do violence. 

But we have brought a new problem into the country with new migrants from other places. The young in those groups have often lived violent lives in refugee camps. They have done violence there in order to survive. Their schooling has been limited and they have no desire to attend school now. They see themselves as too old, too smart, able to fend for themselves without the need to work. 

There are all sorts of programs set up for these teens. Most of them seem to have limited success. Well meaning people are trying to be kind, to "help" in ways which are simply not always appropriate. 

If you are born in another country and you commit serious crimes here you run the risk of being returned to the country of your birth.  It may be that we need to remind the young intent on violence of that because I don't see them surviving in those places. Other people have knives there too.