GAT Readers, I am a cat person.
Dog too, but currently I just own that furry little bastard. I, like most pet owners/pet parents, would contemplate causing egregious and sudden harm to person(s) who threaten my pet, as much as they threaten me. I love the furry creature who lives with me, and will be actively working against someone inside my house who would threaten my pet (and me, by being a threat inside my house).
*Disclaimer: Yes, pets are generally considered legal property and thus not subject to personal protection coverages of the law.*
But there are limits. Tony Wittman certainly crossed a few of those limits and simultaneously proved that the gun control within the Australian countryside is working out… well… about as well as we think it is.
Armed ex-soldier allegedly storms animal shelter to get cat back
Not exactly the purr-fect crime.
An ex-Australian soldier in full tactical gear allegedly burst into an animal shelter with an assault rifle and tied up a worker in a failed bid to get his kitty back, according to a report Wednesday.
Tony Wittmann, 44, was allegedly so mad when workers at the Lost Dogs’ Home in Melbourne told him he needed to wait a day to pick up the pet, he’s accused of threatening a 23-year-old female worker with the gun in the facility’s parking lot, according to ABC Australia. – New York Post
Yes, Mr. Wittman mounted a failed tactical extraction of his cat from an animal shelter. A shelter he could have picked up his cat from the following day.
“On this occasion, he’s acted to get back possession of a cat, which he was only going to be without for possibly 10 hours.” -Senior Constable Jo MacDonald, Melbourne
The 44-year-old Wittman was discharged from Australian Army service for “failing to render efficient service.” which I am assuming is a similar situation to the US Armed Forces ‘Failure to Adapt’ to military life, conditions, etc. Some people are not mentally fit to work in military conditions, they are not independent enough or able to complete the tasks, both tactical and logistic, that a military unit needs to function. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are otherwise unsuitable for work in general, but the military does take a certain level of fortitude for success.
Wittman has been charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and armed robbery. He will also not get his cat back, so perhaps he should have saved the John Wick antics for something more drastic than a business day delay in retrieving the pet.
The Real Point
Wittman had an AR-15, or something described as, “something a SWAT team in the movies would use.” As opposed to SWAT teams in real life using, I suppose. The worker was a 23-year-old woman who works at a pet shelter, her experience with firearms is likely limited to entertainment media.
Anyway, just more proof that all gun control in the Outback seems to work oh-so-well, right up to the point it doesn’t. It is impossible to remove a technology like auto-loading rifles from circulation. There will always be non-compliant elements, and the more likely that element is to become a problem the less likely they would comply in the first place. Making a ban and removal most effective on the people least likely to be a threat while leaving the greater likely threats as uncaringly non-compliant.
Can we imagine how bogus an assault weapon ban would be here? How porous and ineffective?
I can, and it is a laughable state of make-believe that grows in the field of naïve good intentions.
