One week removed from Lesley Podesta’s disgraceful comments on firearm ownership, the Australian media have been in overdrive trying to desperately sell the national firearms amnesty this past week.
Yesterday, both NSW Police and Malcolm Turnbull indulged in a spot of virtue signalling by both having press conferences about the amnesty. Turnbull made sure he had the token shot from the cameras of being shown a display of firearms by a Police member, that were either Airsoft replicas or firearms that could be owned legally anyway. Good thing Turnbull wasn’t asked to explain this shooting of a car dealership the day before.
NSW Police forgot to mention the last time they had an amnesty that hundreds, if not thousands, of guns went missing because they were being sold to criminals instead of destroyed. This was right after a barrel-less MP40 was seized in Sydney. We’re told the owner was just eager to get in early for the firearm amnesty.
Peter Overton stated on Nine News Sydney on June 21st that there were “250 million illegal firearms” in Australia. Now, while we put this down to a slip of the tongue, the most amusing thing was that Channel Nine immediately pulled the video and have not put it back on air on their Nine News Now website (probably because Overton feared being memed out of existence). Don’t worry, we screen capped it:
Yep, still not up.
To be fair, Overton was inspired how 93 million Americans die every single year from firearm violence.
The Daily Telegraph also deliberately tried to blur the lines between legal and illegal firearms, by claiming there were nearly 1 million firearms in NSW, and that somehow it was a bad thing that they were owned by law abiding citizens.
The Courier Mail went for the “think of the children” angle with a very poorly researched article about firearm accidents in the USA, completely avoiding talking about gang involvement being largely responsible for claimed deaths of children 17 and under, and concentrating on making everyone’s favourite pretend professor Philip Alpers feel important.
Roland Browne also popped up out of irrelevance on ABC Radio to state that he was “appalled that firearms could be sold during the amnesty.” Yes, the horror of firearms being sold legally. From the same guy that refused to disclose the membership and financial background of Gun Control Australia when asked to provide said details at the Senate Inquiry in 2015.
No one actually cares what you think, Roland.
However, it was this claim from Channel 7 Adelaide which had to be the pick of the bunch. A day after a drive by shooting in Adelaide, Channel 7 claimed that 365 firearms were stolen in South Australia last year and that 113 were recovered by Police. Well, that’s interesting because we went out and dug up the number of legally owned firearms in SA:
Cmmr STEVENS : In terms of the breakdown over financial years I do not have that information available, but I can say that at this point, the establishment for Firearms Branch as at 30 June 2016 is 25 sworn and 22.03 nonsworn.
Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Thanks, commissioner. Minister, how many registered firearms owners are there in SA as of 30 June 2016?
The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Just for the sake of clarity, what was the question again?
Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: How many registered firearms owners in South Australia as of 30 June 2016?
The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: This may not specifically answer your question but I think it will give you a pretty good indication. To 1 May 2016, I am advised there were 65,559 firearm licences and 300,510 total firearm registrations.
Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Was the last number 300,510?
The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Correct, as at 1 May 2016.
Bear in mind, those are also last year’s numbers.
Yes, quite the “epidemic” with not even a fraction of 1% of the total of all firearms being stolen, and even less of those are being recovered by Police. Really makes you appreciate the “effectiveness” of that firearm registry.
It wasn’t all the usual negativity and stupidity though. There was a positive acknowledgement of volunteer shooters efforts in the fight against feral cats in South Australia.
There was also this from the Border Mail which recapped the proposals that came out of the recent public land inquiry in Victoria:
Most surprising to me however, was Andrew Bolt’s position on the use of firearms for self-defence. You may recall the article we posted a few weeks ago where the Herald Sun praised an undercover Victoria Police officer for thwarting a carjacking with her handgun. Well, Bolt asked the question: why not the public?
Given Bolt’s recent dispatching of Antifa members that assaulted him outside a café in Carlton, it’s not hard to see where he stands on self-defence. The comments under the article are also overwhelmingly in support of self-defence.
As the weeks roll on, I’m sure there will be more of the same nonsense from the Australian Government via the media, desperately trying to sell this blatant admission of failure of our firearms laws as some kind of “fight against terror”, with no attention being paid to our borders.
That, and Malcolm Turnbull desperately needing a distraction from his tanking poll numbers.
Thank you my Australian mates, for letting Philip Alpers live in your country. I would guess that he will never be missed by any NZ Firearms Licence holder.
It’s not the Australian media trying to sell the gun amnesty but the Federal Government ( as you would expect). To clarify further, journalists do not attempt to sway readers or put a particular point of view. Critics from both sides of the gun amnesty debate accuse the media of bias etc. This proves the media takes a neutral stance on the debate. Fight fiction with facts.
Re the South Australian firearms theft numbers – “0.12146018435326611% of legally owned Firearms stolen” just doesn’t have that head for the hills, the end is nigh! ring to it.