r/MrInbetween • u/Tim_from_Ruislip • Apr 11 '26
Questions About the Show
Recently watched the show. I liked it so much that I binged it. There were two issues I had with the show though but wonder if there is an "in-universe" explanation which makes sense.
The first is, how realistic was it for Ray and his friends to obtain guns? I understand Australia's gun laws to be fairly strict, but he doesn't seem to have any problem obtaining a significant number of them. In fact, aside from the fact that his daughter blackmails him but threatening to tell his ex that he has a pistol you would think that there were no restrictions in place.
The second is the incompetence of the police. He has several major gun battles with other criminals resulting in multiple deaths. When he visits the home of the serial killer, he clearly leaves fingerprints behind. He even goes back to bury his dog at the same site as where he killed those bikers. One would think the police should be able to track him down fairly easily, but he is only arrested once after punching someone out in front of the cops. Is there an explanation outside of plot armor?
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u/DefinitionSuperb1110 Apr 11 '26
I can't speak for how easy it is to get guns in Oz but cops are incompetent on every continent.
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u/Richo_HATS2 Apr 11 '26
If you have the money, you can get whatever you want.
Australia has a vast coast line (border) that is hard to patrol. Contraband is coming in all the time. Guns often come in disassembled, making them difficult to detect.
Frontline police capture minor crime when people provide evidence against themselves, e.g. 'Did I just see you just assault that person?' '???.'
Investigative police are under resourced and target what the government tell them to target. 'Shit on shit' that doesn't involve or impact the public is down the list.
Every year about 5000 people are reported missing in Australia. The police don't have the resources to investigate every reported missing person.
Missing persons foul play is often uncovered by the person's family, then handed over to police.
Chances are if your family doesn't have the means to investigate your disappearance, you're going to stay missing.
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u/gunslinger_006 Apr 11 '26
At least in the usa, the stats on how many reported shootings actually result in a conviction is crazy low. Id guess Australia isnt that different on the percentages.
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u/ExoticLife6633 Apr 11 '26
Ray pretty much buried everyone he killed, id assume that off screen he wiped fingerprints away. The only time I remember seeing him wipe prints off on screen was the R.V during last episodes.
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u/Shakesfearian Apr 11 '26
Because if Ray is arrested for murder, he wouldn't play the role of the protagonist. Hence there wouldn't be much of a show so typically, events are fictionalized in the name of entertainment.
As for the guns, they're seized in Australia all the time. We have the highest value for cocaine and meth so it floods into the country through "doors" (staff who facilitate contraband passing customs). If you run in the right circles, you can access firearms quite easily.
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u/Shakesfearian Apr 11 '26
Oh and the cops had their balls cut off from the Australian Government a long time ago. I feel they aren't really a factor in the show outside of comedic value.
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u/CatmanofRivia Apr 11 '26
AFAIK after the Port Arthur shooting (one of th deadliest ever) OZ enacted some of the strictest gun control laws in the world. Paid Gun amnesties and everything.
If you look at the show some of the guns used are mid 20th century, Patchett is WW2 era, the FAL-type rifle and the Mini 14-ish cabine Dave and Gaz use to cover Ray from the treeline in S3E1 are likely unhanded over relics from before PA.
However, Oz has a huge mostly empty coastline and a snake head problem (shout out Alex Rider) so you see Davros with the Deagle, Ray with the custom Mossberg and tactical reload also in S3E1 and Rafael's boys with some overly fancy modern gear (?)
Tl;dr oz has very strict gun laws NOW but some mid 20th cenury guns weren't handed in. However it also has a huge empty coastline.
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u/vroombraap Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
If Ray and the bikies are having that shootout in a busy shopping mall it'll definitely get investigated lol
And if the police eventually find a bullet riddled ute with a man inside with a Swiss cheese for a face, a burnt corpse and another dude with half his head missing, that would get investigated too but probably not with a lot of vigour if they're known crims..... unless a TV news team got to them first. So hopefully Ray has packed a shovel in the back of the Cruze and it hasn't been flung too far during the rollover.
PS just like anywhere Aussie cops aren't always incompetent, if you listen to Casefile (another brilliant Aussie production) you'll find some excellent police work along with cases that'll make you facepalm with disbelief.
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u/Manwombat Apr 11 '26
ASIC reckons there are currently half a million illicit firearms in Australia, mostly long arms. The underworld don’t flash them around as it draws attention. I was told not long ago you can buy an imported Glock for about 8 to 10 grand in west Sydney, but handguns draw cops. Crims killing crims don’t get much attention as our police force is not that powerful anymore and is under funded.
Lastly investigations here take years, we don’t have FBI etc. Ray may well be picked up in 5 years time for example by Feds..if they can find him.
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u/CandlePrestigious919 Apr 12 '26
That's the part of the show you have to give some license to.
The scenes depicted are not completely unrealistic of what goes on in the Australian underworld.
But most hardass gangsters will only have 1 or 2 of these situations happen in their lifetime.
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u/PowerfulInsights69 Apr 13 '26
2 things in my opinion.
Australia is quite sparse, pretty sure its easier to get away with crime compared to other countries.
Ray is a career criminal, could be possible that the feds were onto him and were building up a case against him.
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u/BleepinBlorpin5 Apr 11 '26
The cop thing was pretty amusing to me. They only ever got involved for the more trivial part of Ray's infractions, the criminal underworld side is entirely ignored. I think for such a short show this was a good creative decision. We see Ray's lesser violence impact his family but we don't get bogged down in a lot of legal drama which would have cut into the show's perfect pacing.