The state I live in, Queensland in Australia, literally bans ownership of most useful glassware. Amateur chemistry is well and truly dead and buried here, and yet drugs (their reasoning for the ban) are still widely available.
Australian law seems to be very aggressive in eliminating perceived materials of misbehavior. I'm thinking of how the laws against guns were extended to even BB-guns and slingshots. Is this an extension of the English legal tradition or is it uniquely Australian?
Uniquely Australian. I do love this country, and love living here, but the “larrikin” culture we put forward is frankly a facade — we’re a culture of rules and rule followers. Laws on laws on laws, for better or worse.
It’s not inherently a bad thing, either, but can have some somewhat absurd outcomes at times.
And it’s state-by-state. Queensland where I live is a fascinating mix of extremely wide reaching laws banning all sorts of things for perceived possible harm, as well as being less strict than some other states. “Gel blasters” being legal here and banned elsewhere are an interesting example of that.
What's a gel blaster? And how do they enforce the glassware ban -- schools, universities and "protect" companies okay, but people and "improper" companies not?
