I am a Sporting Shooter living in Maryborough Qld.
I appeal for sensible decisions to be made by all involved in this review, so far it appears to be shrouded in secrecy with little involvement from Licensed shooters, Associations, Clubs, Licenced Firearm dealers and more importantly Manufacturers and related industries.
I have been involved in target shooting since I was 11 years old (now 71) learned the skills and disciplines of shooting and responsible firearms handling and above all SAFETY !
Fifty years ago The Australian Government snapped up my skills as a Marksman for two years.
Since that time I have been racked with pain and mobility limitations. Shooting is about the only sport that I can continue to enjoy; sometimes having to compete from my wheel chair!
I am also Left Handed, as are a great number of other citizens of our country. This limits my choice of firearm actions with the most adaptable being Lever or Slide actions, both of which are very old technology and are no faster in their action than any competent shooter can achieve with a rifle of their choice.
Training and limitations for a shooter to first acquire a licence and then permission to purchase, use and Store are firearm are strict and not easy to obtain. The cost of required storage equipment is also expensive. Ammunition is not available until you can produce the correct licence to cover it.
The theft of Licensed and correctly stored equipment, I believe, is very small when compared to the ability for almost anyone with the desire to purchase an illegal firearm.
The greatest threat to the theft of Licenced firearms is probably due to illegal information being ‘acquired’ from Government data bases.
A positive move to reduce ‘Gun related violence’ would be greatly expanded control over our border security to reduce the massive flow of illegal firearms into the country.
Penalties for illegal possession of firearms should be increased with mandatory sentencing .
Decision makers in any new Firearm regulations restricting their use by legitimately licenced citizens should be fully aware of the use of firearms and their restrictions in this country and then only in conjuction with the shooting fraternity and sport.
I once made the elimination trials for the Olympic Games and I believe every other citizen also deserves that right in their chosen sport.
Knee jerk reactions and restrictions to “Show The Public” that you are doing something positive to reduce the proliferation of illegal firearms is Simply Wrong.
Add comment