[fallingblock]

Hello Foxrr,

He is somewhat troubled by the perception that if you 'look at someone the wrong way' or upset a stranger especially when driving, you're liable to be confronted by a person producing a handgun and maybe using it.

As Guy noted, this perception would only be valid in certain inner-city areas and some towns with a heavy gang presence. More importantly, cases of unjustified use of a firearm by a CCW licence holder are very rare. Any person threatening to shoot you over a 'look' is likely not legally carrying the gun. During my three months in Arizona last year, I found folks to be exceedingly polite. A bit of a shock after urban Australia!

Because of our super-tight handgun rules in Australia that's not a common perception here. Which of course doesn't save you from facing physical violence here especially if you're at a night-spot like a pub or nightclub. Alcohol fuelled violence is becoming ever more prevalent in Oz society. We have a drinking culture here.

You ought to travel around in Western Sydney a bit! There's quite a bit of gang activity and gunplay there, at least by Australian standards. Australia overall has a higher violent crime rate (excluding homicide) than the U.S.A. - certainly Australia's alcohol culture here plays a part in that.

Our Aboriginals don't have the same sort of presence in the big cities as African Americans. Maybe more like Native Americans perhaps??

Having lived in Alice Springs for five years, I'd say your comparison is generally valid. Both cultures suffer tremendous substance abuse problems and perhaps a similar difficulty in assimilating into modern society. While I was peacefully panhandled by a Navajo in the parking lot of the Flagstaff Mall, I have been "stood over" by groups of Aborigines on Hartley St. in Alice Springs. I had a revolver in my pocket at Flagstaff - perhaps the awareness of that possibility in the mind of the Navajo guy contributed to the politeness of the panhandling?

Your house is regarded as your castle here...until the Government wants the land for some other purpose. It can be compulsorily reclaimed, with compensation paid at a pretty low rate. Doesn't happen often but it does happen. You never really own your plot in Oz!

Here in the ACT, you never "own" your plot of land. When you buy a home, the land it sits upon is a perpetual lease fron the ACT government and they may resume it with compensation.

Interestingly, the States seems to have lower standards of housing and workmanship than that allowed here in major cities in West Oz. I don't see that as a bad thing, but housing costs are painfully high over here.

In my observation, much of U.S. housing is of quite high standard when compared to Australia, especially with regard to insulation and heating/cooling. My daughter just purchased a near new four bedroom two-bath home outside Atlanta for USD$150,000. Granted this is a bargain time for housing in parts of the U.S. but that amount converted to AUD$ would not even buy a hovel here in Canberra. Australia suffers from a chronic shortage of housing in the cities due to a combination of lack of incentive for builders to build, ridiculously restrictive state and council land-release policies, and continuing immigration demand.

...Here in Oz we don't give a rats what church you go to or otherwise - except perhaps if it's a mosque. That would tweak some interest.

Isn't that the truth! Americans have their church, Aussies their pub!

Our culture and heirarchy hasn't been shaped by the relatively small convict kickstart so much as the English attitude that came with it. We always went on about egalitarianism here. But there's always been a fairly strong elitist 'us-and-them' culture hiding quietly behind it. And our big conflicts have been mostly fought in other lands.

While only a thousand or so convicts landed in 1788, transportation went on for over half a century, leading to a strong social divide in Australian society between the convicts, "ticket of leave" folks and the free settlers. There was a further divide between settlers 'with means' and those brought out to work the estates and business of the former. I find it notable that while Woodrow Wilson imposed conscription upon the U.S. during WWI, the Australians TWICE voted it down. Aussies may have gone off to fight for "King and Country", but they went voluntarily!