The Victorian Government has been caught in their own web of deception. Just last week, we were informed by the Andrews’ Labor government that the reason gun shops had to be closed was because of alleged ‘panic buying of firearms’. Lisa Neville the Victorian Police Minister reported that attempts to purchase firearms (we can only presume this means permits to acquire lodged) rose to 2200 in a single week. She characterised this activity as abhorrent and implied that people were panic buying guns.
At the time we pointed out that this was a fiction, with the stringent controls applied to the purchase of firearms in Australia, with each requiring justification and police approval in the form of a ‘permit to acquire’ it is not possible to panic buy them.
And now we have been vindicated and the malicious lies of the Andrews’ government have been exposed.
Today figures were released indicating that for the past 7 years show that the average number of permits to acquire issued in Victoria each week is roughly 1850. This figure sees some seasonal and yearly variations. Given an expected price rise (due to the dollar’s fall), the annual March/April ‘rut’ a peak time for deer hunters, and the belated announcement of a duck season. It would only be natural to expect a small uptick in the firearms being purchased, and this is exactly what has occurred. A rise from 1850 in a typical week to 2200 is well within the normal bounds of the purchasing habits of the community.
This clearly shows once again how fundamentally ideological the attack on gunshops by the Labor held State governments is. There is no real justification for this move, the figures show it.
technically they didn’t lie but yeah let me buy some guns!