NSW Shooters’ Party defends its handgun proposals

ABC 702 Sydney (07:00 News), 17/06/2008 07:28am

Newreader: The Shooters’ Party has defended its push to allow minors as young as 12 to use high-calibre handguns in shooting competitions. Their proposal is contained in a draft bill that’s before the New South Wales Upper House. The National Coalition for Gun Control says the bill aims to drastically water down the state’s gun laws, which were overhauled several years ago. At the moment, juniors can only use low calibre fire arms in supervised shooting competitions. Shooters’ Party MP Roy Smith says that’s putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

Roy Smith: And we’re not talking about handling firearms dangerously, we’re talking about juniors who are competing in specialised competitions on shooting ranges and under the supervision of licensed adults. So I’m not talking about kids taking guns home or taking them to the school. They’re supervised, on shooting ranges, competing in target shooting competition.

Newsreader: But Roland Brown from the National Coalition for Gun Control says it’s a backwards step.

Roland Brown: We’re now going to see, courtesy of the Shooters’ Party, a move to allow kids to use firearms that have the same fire power as people use in the army or special operations police use. And from where we stand, it’s utterly unacceptable.