Libertarianz Deputy Leader Richard McGrath says shop proprietors shouldn't have to ask the government's permission to carry firearms for protection. Backing a call to arms by the Indian Central Association on behalf of dairy owners, he added that every law-abiding person should be able to arm themselves with handguns or other weaponry if that is their wish.

"To defend oneself with sufficient retaliatory force against violent criminals and government tyranny is a basic human right, not a privilege," he said today. "As evidence from the United States has proven conclusively, an armed society is a polite one."

McGrath drew attention to the landmark 1997 study by Yale professor John Lott, which concluded that when the carriage of concealed weapons is allowed in the community, the incidence of murder, rape and robbery plummet. "Only one American in four owns a gun," he added. "But the two hundred million others who don't own firearms also reap the benefit."

Libertarianz want politicians to be shackled by a constitution that would allow, among other things, people to carry arms for their own protection. "There is no freedom," he said, "when only the criminals and the government have the guns."

ENDS

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