Relevance Deprivation Syndrome: Flailing Fischer rambles about tariffs on firearms and ammunition

The man responsible for the biggest ever wipe out of the National Party vote in Australian history, came forward with more anti-firearm drivel on the ABC in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs:

“If they are going to whack a 25% tariff on steel, 20% on aluminium and after 15 days not too many exemptions, then let the world apply a 25% tariff on all gun exports from the USA and a 10% tariff on all ammunition produced in the USA and exported to the world. Two-thirds of the crimes in Mexico are committed by guns from the USA. And by the way Australia has a 0% tariff on guns from the USA into Australia. In other words you go down a whack for whack path. It’s not to be recommended as the Reserve Bank points out.”

Deary me. As much as I dislike the RBA, perhaps listen to what they’re saying Tim?

This is a disastrous idea for Australian businesses and will hurt our economy even more. Does Fischer know what impact that will also have on rural businesses, our farmers and in turn, our exports? Further, the United States is not the only country to manufacture firearms and ammunition by a long shot so there are other plenty of other sellers, as there are other buyers for US arms sales. We’re a minor player on the world stage and are purely chopping off our nose to spite our face.

The Coalition, the so-called party of business sending more Australian businesses to the wall. What a surprise.

This is also immensely hypocritical when just weeks ago Malcolm Turnbull was galivanting around stating Australia’s aspirations to become the 10^th largest arms exporter in the world. We’re allowed to make them and sell them, but by god we’ll show these Americans with their evil guns.

While the Australian economy is beyond our remit, Australia is in deep trouble and relies solely on selling houses and visas to foreigners. Ironically, it was Tim Fischer and John Howard’s economic policies that started this whole mess years ago – they have less of a clue about economics than they do firearms.

The quote about Mexico is inherently wrong about the types of firearms turning up in the cartels’ hands. Furthermore, to use an example of a country which recorded a record number of homicides last year, far higher than the United States, despite having gun laws tighter than almost any other country is a joke. Why doesn’t Mexico just adopt the “world class” National Firearm Agreement, Tim? That should solve it. Has Rebecca Peters found a fix for the cartels in Guatemala by holding up paper signs?

And to add to that, Barack Obama and Eric Holder were infamously running guns to the cartels through Operation Fast and Furious but Fischer doesn’t want to talk about that.

Mexico is a text book case for the 2^nd amendment – they’re held hostage by cartels who have also corrupted the government, with the citizenry being the only ones unarmed and at the mercy of both.

We all know that taxation is another weapon used to attack firearm owners with. We’ve seen that with the recent fee increase in Victoria by Lisa Neville to charge re-enactments $330 for a historically free permit, which will affect ANZAC Day and other celebrations.

A report earlier in the year noted the United Nations has specifically made ammunition a target this year. We’ve seen early murmurings of this in Queensland. We’ve also seen this in fee increases in Western Australia for PTA’s and licences for no apparent reason.

We’ve also seen continually that Tim Fischer is a rank anti-gun opportunist with an abnormal hate of the National Rifle Association. I guess the guilt of proclaiming “they’ll never take our guns” in 1993 and then capitulating and disarming your own country a few years later, is still a bitter pill to swallow after all these years.

Outbursts like this just confirms where the rot in the current state of the National Party began.

Back in your tax payer funded box, Tim.