Acting Commissioner of Police Michael Murphy
Northern Territory Police
Via E-mail November 11, 2019

Dear Mr Murphy,
I am writing to you as president of Shooters Union Australia on behalf of our members to seek clarification of a declaration you made on October 3, 2019 and Gazetted on November 6.

In your Declaration, you declare that “declare all linear repeating firearms with assisted ejection, chambered for rim fire ammunition, to be category C firearms” and “all linear repeating firearms with assisted ejection, chambered for centrefire ammunition, to be category D firearms”, under section 8(1) of the Firearms Act 1997.

As Australia’s pre-eminent organisation representing law-abiding firearms users, we are extremely concerned by this arbitrary reclassification and request clarification on the
following matters:

  1. What, exactly, is a “linear repeating firearm with assisted ejection”?
  2. Why have these firearms been reclassified?
  3. How are these guns any different from a public safety perspective than pump action or lever-action rifles?
  4. What public safety risk do you believe these “linear repeating firearms with assisted ejection” pose, given they are Category A or B in literally every other State and Territory in Australia and have never been used in a crime?
  5. Were stakeholders, including licensed shooters, shooting organisations and dealers, consulted before this decision was made? If not, why not?
  6. How many of these “linear repeating firearms with assisted ejection” are registered in the NT?
  7. What is the precise amount of compensation payable to licensed owners of these guns who have suddenly had them recategorised and are unable to continue to own them as a result?

We appreciate your assistance in helping us and our members understand the rationale behind this decision, given its serious implications and the seemingly opaque manner in which has been arrived at.

Yours sincerely,

Graham Park
President, Shooters Union Australia

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