It all makes sense. And yet it doesn’t.

Victoria Police may soon have 600 semi-automatic rifles along the lines of either the AR-15 (preferred weapon for massacres) or the M4 (preferred assault weapon of the US armed forces). Both could take out your eye from a few hundred metres. The cost of the rifles may take out $25 million from state coffers.

An AR-15 rifle similar to those being considered by Victoria Police. Credit:CHARLES KRUPA

You can’t argue with the perception that the government is cracking down on criminals when it makes such a purchase. You call that a gun? This is a gun. And no one would want to have to confront a criminal or terrorist on a level playing field.

It is also unarguable that police officers need to be able to defend themselves and protect society. They need to be able to neutralise a situation; and their workplace, unlike that of anyone else’s, can be a violent, life-threatening place. They want to go home at night, just like the rest of us. And to do that against those who would do them harm means the carrying of weapons. No one is going to argue against that.