March 2008 President message
If you are passionate about something, wouldn’t you want to know all of the facts and be a student of that area? Of course you would. So why is it that those adamantly against private firearm ownership, such as The Greens and the National Coalition for Gun Control, amongst others, continually get the most basic of facts wrong?
In early February, the Australian Greens leader Bob Brown addressed a contingent in the Canberra Press Gallery and told them with a straight face that there were hundreds of thousands of automatic-style guns in the hands of private shooters across Australia. He claimed that these guns were, in fact, the same as machine-guns and should therefore be withdrawn from private ownership.
Late last year, the National Coalition for Gun Control’s spokesperson Samantha Lee appeared on Channel 7’s Sunrise morning program and told the presenters that semi-automatics “propel a number of bullets in a number of minutes” simply by pulling the trigger. She also stated that semi-automatics are the “most powerful” firearms.
Other groups and individuals against recreational shooting and hunting perpetuate the myth that getting a firearms licence is easier than getting a drivers licence.
SSAA National works continuously, often behind the scenes, with media, politicians and their staffers in educating them about the facts of firearm ownership and the positive benefits of hunting through game management and feral animal control.
You, the members, the backbone of the SSAA, can also do your part in explaining the mechanics and the truths of shooting to those you mix with. You can take the fear, the nonsense and the pure mischievousness out of the antis’ propaganda.
Fact sheets and information on issues such as the legislative requirements and individual clearances required for private firearm ownership are available from the SSAA website. Click on the Research Archive, Security/Legislation and Press Releases tabs.
Additional reports containing statistical information useful for sporting shooters and private firearm owners can be read at:
• ‘Australian Firearm Thefts, 2004-05’, Australian Institute of Criminology, Crime Facts Info, 3 April 2007, no. 145, click here
• ‘Decrease in Firearm Homicides’, Australian Institute of Criminology, Crime Facts Info, 22 July 2003, no. 54, click here
• ‘National Handgun Buyback Scheme set to kick off’, The Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator the Honourable Chris Ellison, Press release, 30 July 2003, click here
• ‘National Firearm Trafficking Policy Agreement’, The Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator the Honourable Chris Ellison, Press release, 17 April 2002, click here
• ‘The Licensing and Registration Status of Firearms Used in Homicide’, Jenny Mouzos, Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, May 2000, No. 151, click here
Bob Green
SSAA National President
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