August 2009 President message
Recently, I attended the United Nations Meeting for States of the Pacific Regional on the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects on behalf of SSAA National. Held in Sydney in late June, this meeting was the first of a regional series planned to follow the Third Biennial Meeting of States, which was held in New York in July last year and which SSAA National also attended.
The Sydney meeting was attended by officials from the Pacific region, including the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The meeting aimed to discuss border control and armoury establishment issues, as well as provide practical solutions to tackle the illicit trade of illegal arms and weapons in Pacific countries.
However, herein lies the problem. Several of the interested civil society groups who attended the meeting, such as Oxfam, forgot or were mischievous in not emphasising that the discussion concerned the illicit trade of illegal arms. This is why the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia attended - to ensure that illegal arms remained the topic of discussion.
There is no doubt that many of the nations who attended do have enormous economic and social problems and may have serious issues concerning illegal firearms, machetes, knives and other weapons. These are countries that are, in many aspects, still developing as nations and I won’t even attempt to offer solutions to resolve these issues. It is, however, my business as National President of the SSAA and a delegate at these meetings to ensure that these discussions, and the regional and international treaties that are often subsequently implemented, do not affect law-abiding and legitimate sporting shooters and recreational hunters in Australia.
I am all for practical measures and this is why I am pleased to announce the national launch of the SSAA’s Gun Safe Voucher Program. SSAA members will notice in this month’s Australian Shooter a ‘Secure Your Gun, Secure Your Sport’ flyer and voucher. In addition to offering members substantial discounts on firearm safes from a number of distributors to be used during September, our program aims to further promote safe and sensible firearm ownership and storage.
The Gun Safe Voucher Program, and our continuation of our ‘Secure Your Gun, Secure Your Sport’ campaign, has the support of the Ministry of Home Affairs, as well as Australian firearms industry representatives Beretta Australia, Foxsafe, Nioa, Raytrade and Winchester Australia.
Now is the perfect time to upgrade your firearm storage facilities. The SSAA’s Gun Safe Voucher Program is a practical measure that will have positive outcomes for all of us, whether we are sporting shooters, recreational hunters, collectors, professional shooters or in law enforcement positions. At SSAA, we’re about action, not posturing or wishful thinking. Secure your gun and secure your sport!
Bob Green
SSAA National President
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