Top cop compares Australians’ right to drink with US gun culture
A high ranking policeman in Western Australia’s Pilbara feels strongly about Australian attitudes towards alcohol restrictions.
So much so that he compares it to American attitudes towards gun control.
Inspector Ricky Chadwick, from the Pilbara Regional Office, made the observation following an application by the police commissioner to ban the sale of full strength beer in the mining town.
He said people’s attitudes seem to change when authorities move to enhance public safety by restricting alcohol.
“There is no doubt that when you start talking about alcohol and the harm that it does, most people agree when there's a correlation between alcohol consumption and harm," Inspector Chadwick told the ABC.
"But when you start talking about restricting access to alcohol, the subject becomes very different, and what I find is that the drinking culture in Australia is akin to the gun laws in America.
"Reasonable people become almost militant when you start having this conversation [about restricting liquor]."
The comparison he said was there when you saw people’s response to stricter rules, even when they agreed excessive alcohol caused problems.
"Liquor has an important role in society, it's used in celebrations, and I certainly don't want the perception that we're anti-alcohol, but we certainly need better control and restrictions," he said
"Because you drink alcohol it doesn't make you a bad person, and I think it is part of Australian culture.
"But to me people's attitudes in Australia towards liquor was like seeing good sensible people on TV when asked after a massacre about gun laws.
"Despite the outcome of all those horrific incidences and the amount of gun deaths in America, people still want their right to own and possess firearms."
Of course, the right to bear arms is enshrined in the United States Constitution.
The right to drink in Australia is not.
by Leon Gettler, February 20th 2017
