Statement on closures

As you are all aware the environment and society we live in is rapidly changing. The Government is introducing new measures everyday to try and lessen the impact of Covid-19.

However, there were certain restrictions put in place that were of no benefit to the community and achieves nothing but to discriminate against law abiding firearm owners. I am referring to the recent cabinet decision to prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition to normal licensed shooters. While still allowing gun shops to stay open to sell to the minority of the community who are exempt from the decision and accessories only to the remainder.

It has been rumoured that the reason behind the decision was due to a link with increased domestic violence and such a stance was vaguely addressed by the Victorian Police Minister, the Hon. Lisa Neville. She recently made a comment that loosely suggested there might be in an increase in domestic violence situations due to being cooped up at home and as such there was a need to restrict the amount of firearms within the community. However this does not consider or negate the number of firearms and ammunition already present in the community, and has complete disregard for the fact that we, as licensed firearm owners, are some of the most highly vetted people in the country.

Looking at the three states that have implemented the ban so far, namely Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria, as well as the Australian Capital Territory who have started to enact it is not gone unnoticed that these are all Labor led states. So one must wonder what is going on here and who is ultimately behind this push.

What we do know is if these restrictions are not repealed within the week, we can expect them to remain for the duration of the virus which, due to its rapidly evolving nature, is anyone guess how long that will be. What can you do?

Using the below template (we encourage you to edit as necessary and more facts relevant to your state)

– Write to the Premier
– Write to the Police Minister
– Write to your local state MP
– Write to the Opposition Leader
– Write to the Opposition Leader

Michael Wild
President
Firearm Owners United

Position

Dear, Name

I am writing to you today in regards to the National Cabinets unnecessary ban on the purchase of firearms and ammunition.

There is a perceived issue that firearm owners are stock piling firearms and ammunition which is being loosely related to preparing for an apocalyptic type scenario. This is quite simply incorrect for two reasons. Firstly, this time of year is coming up to what should have been duck and quail season as well as the deer rut. Like every year people are purchasing for planned hunting trips – which were unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. This is another issue for discussion.

Secondly, with the current Australian dollar falling incredibly low, everyone has been expecting a price rise of 15 to 25 percent on new shipments of ammo and firearms. For this reason, those who have been saving up for a new rifle or are in need of ammo are purchasing before the impending price increase. Given the lengths one has to go to buy a firearm, it is impossible to go out and stockpile firearms. A permit to acquire must be paid for and submitted to be approved by the registrar; the buyer must then take the paid permit to the guns hop and hand it over when purchasing the firearm of choice. They can only buy a firearm that is described on the permit. Some states still have a 28 day waiting period before approval is sent out and others charge as much as $180.00 for one. To simply suggest someone is hurriedly stockpiling of firearms is made impossible based on the regulations outlined above.

Furthermore the vague suggestions that this is related to domestic violence situations is unfounded and to put it bluntly, offensive. Law Abiding Firearm Owners are some of the most highly vetted people in the country. We have held firearm licences and firearms for years. Our households already contain firearms and ammunition. To say we need to prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition because we might commit domestic violence acts if we’re able to purchase them completely ignores the fact we already have these items in our household.

We acknowledge that some primary producers, armed security and professional pest controllers are still permitted to buy firearms and ammunition as normal. However, most farmers have a standard target/hunting or recreational licence, depending in which state they reside, purely because it is much to acquire due to considerable amount of paperwork involved to acquire a Primary Producer licence. The required firearms can be acquired on the standard target/hunting or recreation licence and as such there are now thousands of farmers who cannot go buy the tools they need to continue to upkeep their farm. Such a hasty decision from the National Cabinet has been failed to consider the wide spread implications to the broader community. Deleted if not relevant to your state

WA – The Registrar is currently denying any PTA’s submitted and only refunding a partial amount of the money, they are keeping an admin fee and any associated postage costs. This is simply unacceptable.

VIC – Saffire Trading, which is a small business that does reloads has had to shut down, although having thousands of rounds of recently completed reloads for customer. Customers are no longer able to pick the orders up and as the business generally operates on a pay when you pick up system the small business will be unable to collect the funds for works completed. Moreover, with no known end in sight to the current restrictions, the owner who relies on this business as an income has had to lay off his staff and will most likely be unable to recover the business.

QLD – Many primary producers possess Firearms Licenses that are endorsed with ‘OC’ or ‘RE1’ codes. Whilst the current exemption allows for Primary Producers with ‘PP’ codes to be exempt from the shutdown, this still leaves a very large number of farmers unable to purchase firearm’s and ammunition as they do not possess the listed code. Because of this, I believe that the exemption to the closure should be amended to include the ‘OC’ and ‘RE1’ codes.

We’ve included below the names and ministerial emails for each state and territory’s police (or equivalent) minister to get you started.

Victoria:
The Hon. Lisa Neville – lisa.neville@parliament.vic.gov.au

New South Wales:
The Hon. David Elliott – baulkhamhills@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Australian Capital Territory:
The Hon. Mick Gentleman MLA – gentleman@act.gov.au

Queensland:
The Hon. Mark Ryan MP – police@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Northern Territory:
The Hon. Nicole Manison MLA – minister.manison@nt.gov.au

Western Australia:
The Hon. Michelle Roberts MLA – Minister.Roberts@dpc.wa.gov.au

South Australia:
The Hon. Corey Wingard MP – ministerwingard@sa.gov.au

Tasmania:
The Hon. Mark Shelton MP – mark.shelton@parliament.tas.gov.au