I agree completely...and I would not hestitate to add that it makes not one iotas difference the colour of the criminal...you don't want to hear what I'd do to anyone of whatever colour if they ever hurt Chelsea.
In Australia and New Zealand there are functioning police forces and a goal system that keeps them inside...well escapes are rare as rocking horse poop...unlike PNG where mass breakouts are regular...all it takes is a threat towards a 'guard' from a wantok and they look the other way while 50 hardened raskols walk out through a hole in the fence late one night. Also life seems more valued in Australia/New Zealand...even by ordinary crims..they don't shoot you then rob you...even if they are armed.
As I have said before the incidence of armed violence in PNG is orders of magnitude greater than OZ/NZ...by whatever measure you use. 90+% of the population of OZ/NZ would not know anyone who has been raped, shot,stabbed or burgled...90% of the population of PNG know several.
I don't consider myself to be macho for carrying while in PNG..if it was just a macho thing I would have carried even when at work far out in the bush...I have not even picked up a handgun since leaving PNG and never owned one before going there...I had owned a .22 rifle when a teen. I don't dislike guns but feel no desire to own one again...unless I need one again....I don't feel the need to join a gun club although I enjoyed my membership of Lae and Moresby pistol clubs and enjoyed competitive target shooting....I even got pretty good at it.
Everyone's different and the way they confront threats varies...from leaving on the next plane to, at the other end of the spectrum, and I believe the more common reaction, buying a gun and being prepared to use it. By use it I don't mean pull it out at the first sign of trouble and I don't mean shoot to kill as a first option...but when you do pull it out you're definately going to fire it...preferably a warning shot close over their heads...as I said before 99.9% of conflicts end right there.
If they are also armed (particularly with a gun)you MUST assume they are willing to use it too...I only faced that scenario twice (+ twice with bushknives),when I was also armed, and no-one was hurt on one of the occasions they had firearms...I'm not so certain on the other...both the knife wielders got nothing more than a big fright.
In 99.9% of cases where I faced an armed raskol they did use their weapon without hesitating and before I used mine...the only exception was Rabaul, although the second raskol I saw loaded the shotgun before pointing it at me at a range of several feet. Of the 4 raskols involved two had factory shotguns, one a revolver and one a knife...if I had pulled my pistol that night it would likely have ended in many of the patrons shot...we were all sitting crowded together on the floor as they covered us while the fourth emptied the till and helped himself to cool refreshment...they slapped us around a little and we handed over our wallets, sunglasses etc and they left....I made the
concious decision to blend into the floor and be as submissive as possible...until they looked like getting violent.
There are multitudinous cases of unarmed expats...and many more locals, being murdered in PNG so not carrying does not necesarily equate to de-escalating the situation..as it might have done in the 60s and 70s when armed raskols were virtually unknown.
I believe my ownership and use of a handgun in PNG was 100% successful and reasonable. It was even good for virtually every raskol I faced...they lived to rob another day...or perhaps in a few cases decided expats were in the 'too hard' basket and didn't try again. The ones that would shoot first and rob after were already of that mindset before we met.
I do accept that not every armed expat gave the situations under which they would use it as much thought as I and I do accept that a very few armed expats were way too keen to shoot someone.
As to what came first and which side escalated things to the situation as we know it in PNG today? I don't know and I don't care...it was the situation I faced.
I have been thinking about your brother, Pete...and I agree carrying a 9mm or a 45 in his case would be near useless...his best protection is the truck he's driving and the steel cage he's locked inside...a 9mm would be so undergunned as to border on Pythonesque...nothing short of a 50 cal mounted on the roof would make an iota of difference.
I am still keen to hear your thoughts on air freight to the highlands from say Lae...why hasn't it happened? And look forward to catching up at the Talair Reunion...I am sure we'll have same quality of debate we always had
Brgds,
Chuck.
PS when you call me Charles it's like I am being lectured by my father again...please desist
Edited for clarity....and ****e spelling...to/too