The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Inc. (SSAA Inc.) CEO, Tom Kenyon went on radio around the nation this week to discuss the failure of the Federal Government to meet its own deadline in relation to firearm reform.
The March deadline to come to an agreement with states and territories on firearm reforms has passed with more than half the jurisdictions still opposed to at least parts of the plan that was imposed following the Bondi terrorist attack.
Only four jurisdictions have signed up to the government’s gun buyback scheme, despite the federal parliament passing legislation to establish its funding in January.
The SSAA Inc. flagged the foreseeable issues with this ill-conceived plan in December when legislative amendments were being shoehorned into effect with little concern for evidence and efficacy.
Beyond the undue and unfair impact and cost to our members, the SSAA Inc. was deeply concerned that changing the longstanding and successful national firearms regulations would probably lead to inconsistencies between state and territories, as well as strain already challenged firearm registries. And here we are.
Most of you would be infinitely familiar with the differing state-based changes that have been announced to date, with The Australian also publishing a story early this month stating that police in New South Wales have made an approach to the Minns Government to bolster the number of employees working in the state’s gun registry. The Australian detailed that this was “amid claims resources are being stretched to breaking point in the wake of major reforms brought in following the Bondi Beach terror attack.”
The mottled tapestry of firearm regulations across the nation will likely become more diverse as the South Australian government come to terms with the rise of One Nation at the recent state election, and Victoria going to the polls later this year.
This raises the most critical question “so are we safer now because of this?”.
As Tom said on radio this week “the problem here is they [the alleged Bondi terrorists] were radicalized in the first place to the point where they thought it was okay to kill people…..once you’ve decided you’re going to kill a bunch of people, the weapon is really the secondary argument. Preventing radicalization is much more important.”