The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA Inc.) is slamming misinformation being proliferated by the Australia Institute that has led to death threats against their staff.
In consideration of the latest firearm report delivered by the Australia Institute “The hole in Australia’s gun laws. What counts as a genuine reason to own a gun?”, the SSAA Inc. is highlighting massive flaws in the data reported and the potential consequences of such misinformation.
“The Australia Institute consistently includes misinformation in their reports related to firearms which is helping no one, and is actually becoming dangerous” stated SSAA Inc. CEO, Tom Kenyon.
Mr Kenyon further noted that “since the Bondi Terrorist incident, leaders across the nation, including the Prime Minister, have been calling on the community to lower the temperature when commenting on such sensitive matters, yet the Australia Institute seem to want to fan the flames with vigour”.
The latest report uses incredibly inflammatory language such as “preserving their arsenal” and “building a war chest”. Further to this, the report also includes incorrect guesses at the organisation’s revenue and baseless assertions that there is a “low level of transparency of gun and hunting clubs” in relation to “the incursion of the far-right into their ranks”.
Mr Kenyon stated “our members are largely families, farmers, conservationists, and athletes in local community clubs. This also includes neurodivergent individuals who have found a sport where they feel comfortable and at home. The reality of the wonderful people who make up our community seems to be of no interest to the Australia Institute as they make them targets”.
The SSAA Inc. have also taken the bold step to disclose that following an interview with the Australia Institute on the 7.30 Report in October last year, staff across two of their offices received an email stating that the author would “make it my final mission to come and deal with the lot of you”.
The SSAA Inc. continue to highlight critical insights provided by academics, including Dr Samara McPhedran from Griffith University who recently stated on the 7.30 Report that “there doesn’t seem to be any relationship between the number of legally owned guns and firearm violence in Australia”.
“Real information is important, and we back our members to comply with the strict firearms regulation that already exists in Australia, and we are deeply concerned by any misinformation that may compromise the safety of the public, or our members and their families” stated SSAA Inc. CEO, Tom Kenyon.
Fact Checking the Australia Institute
This builds on the massive amount of misinformation we’ve found in many of the Australia Institute firearms related publications, we’ve building on our list that we started last year where we compare some of their statements/assertions to reality.
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Australia Institute Statement/Assertion
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Reality
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“only up to 35,761 people in NSW (including the margin of error of 5227 for each category) participated in either activity [hunting or shooting sports] at least once from June 2024 to July 2025
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This is incorrect. The SSAA estimates 50,000-60,000 at SSAA ranges alone for target shooting.
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“the SSAA’s total membership….nationally would mean a collective revenue of $48.2 million”
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This is blatantly incorrect, and the report even states there is no public reporting requirement about either SSAA membership or financials, so the Australia Institute have just guessed/made up this figure.
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“despite receiving tens of millions of dollars in public funding…”
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We receive $0 in public funding.
Some individual clubs may apply for sporting grants e.g. to assist with infrastructure management, but even if all of these grants were added together it would be a fraction of “tens of millions of dollars”.
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“Gun and hunting clubs, on the other hand, have no such requirements for public accountability and transparency. Most are constituted as companies under the Corporations Act”
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This is incorrect, most clubs are associations, not companies.
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“One concern about the low level of transparency of gun and hunting clubs is the incursion of the far-right into their ranks.”
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Clubs are strictly regulated, as well as individuals who face strict scrutiny in relation to “fit and proper person” assessments.
It would also most likely breach legislation for our clubs to discriminate against individuals based on attributes such as their political views.
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“Without stricter requirements for genuine reasons, a person can list sports shooting or hunting as their genuine reason to acquire a firearm, while having no intention of using it for the stated purpose.”
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This fails to acknowledge that R-licence hunters must report after each hunt to Department of Primary Industries on number of animals taken and are required to hunt on public land at least once a year.
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“This is not in the spirit of the National Firearms Agreement, which introduced genuine reason requirements to prevent firearm ownership for disallowed reasons, including “personal protection”.
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This report provides NO evidence that shooters are holding firearms for “personal protection”.
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SSAA Inc. has “donated millions of dollars to political parties”
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The SSAA Inc. does not donate to political parties
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“As of 2024, there were over four million guns owned by civilians — one for every seven Australians. This is a 25% increase from the 3.2 million firearms in Australia before the Port Arthur Massacre.”
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“…data from the Australian Institute of Criminology shows that registered firearms were used in 25% of homicide cases where the licencing status of the firearm was identified from 2011 to 2016, the most recent data available”
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The Australian Institute of Criminology report “Homicide in Australia 2023-2024” which compares annual homicide data since 1989-1990 shows that:
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“….while Australia’s firearms homicide rate is low, it is not the lowest in the OECD. Eight OECD countries (Spain, Slovenia, Czechia, the UK, Germany, Hungary, South Korea and Japan) have lower gun homicide rates than Australia”
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“…..most perpetrators of mass shootings are licenced gun owners. In Australia and New Zealand, 55% of mass shooting victims between 1987 and 2015 were killed by licenced gun owners using legal firearms”
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“The Western Australian Government recently introduced limits on the number of firearms one individual can possess. Over three in four (78%) Western Australians support these firearms limits. Additionally, over three in four (77%) Australians living outside Western Australia would also support such limits being introduced in their state or territory.”
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“The Western Australian Government recently introduced limits on the number of firearms one individual can possess.”
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These legislative changes have been so broadly criticised that the Minister who introduced them no longer has that job, stakeholders including conservation groups, GPs and farmers have panned them, and the Greens and Liberals teamed up to drive it to a formal legislative review process.
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“There are two individuals in inner Sydney who own over 300 firearms each”
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These licenced individuals are subject to extensive levels of safety and security requirements. This does not equate to a lack of safety or a mandate for regulatory change.
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“There is no evidence supporting the common perception that firearms are predominantly located in rural areas for farming and pest control purposes. There are large numbers of firearms in metropolitan areas, many of these used for recreational purposes.”
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Again, how does this equate to an unsafe community and mandate a need for regulatory change? Are country people inherently safer than city people? How are recreational firearms users e.g. at sporting clubs, in a highly regulated environment, a community safety risk?
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“…research indicates that 52% of people who identify as One Nation voters think gun laws should make it harder to access a gun.”
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…..I just can’t even
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