The case of Albury farmer David Dunstan has seen the consistently anti-firearm Australian media decide to come out on the side of self-defence this past week.
Andrew Bolt has written briefly about self-defence before and even had John R Lott protégé Kesten Green on The Bolt Report. He did not report on this particular incident which is unusual given Bolt’s recent encounter with Antifa.
You may or may not be familiar with truck driver Ben Ashcroft, who has recently made a few viral “man on the street” videos, who gave a far more blunt assessment of the situation. (warning NSFW).
A slew of articles then sprung up in the Australian mainstream press which seemed to side with Dunstan. The Herald Sun was first off the rank, which is interesting considering their relationship with the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.
Even the authoritarian luvvies at the Project, who screeched and talked over the top of everyone and anyone on their way to an Adler reclassification last year, weighed in on this. The ultimate irony of the Project was found in those who wailed their hardest over a lever action shotgun last year, yet seemed to take the side of a man who used his rifle in defence of his family.
The usual smug, condescending tones in place of an actual argument from Waleed Aly and the emotive screaming from Carrie Bickmore seemed notably restrained this time around. Guess you would too, if your employer was on the verge of bankruptcy until a few weeks ago.
Perhaps the most notable of all though was 3AW’s Neil Mitchell. Mitchell, who has been gnashing his teeth over Melbourne’s crime wave for the last 18 months, had Dunstan on the show to find out his version of events. To his credit, Mitchell was pretty objective and allowed Dunstan to speak without the usual interruptions and anti-firearm schtick. He did stop well short of advocating self-defence however, for obvious reasons. Mitchell also vowed to “get some answers” from NSW Police.
Not merely a matter of months ago, Mitchell was furiously licking boots and telling people to “just be compliant” during a home invasion. Quite the ideological 180 turn there from Neil, and either he’s learned from the backlash from his listenership or the money has finally dried up at the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.
Frankly, this appears to be purely the Australian media cashing in on a story of national interest and paying lip service to self-defence. They’ll more than likely resume normal programming, ie bashing gun owners and telling people to call Police, once this out of the public eye.
Looking at it from another angle – sure, whatever gets it done. If this incident and subsequent coverage by the dinosaur MSM administers the red pill to more of the Australian populace regarding the lunacy of our self-defence and firearm laws, then so be it.
Even the ABC might….nah, that’s unicorn territory.
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