Victorian Labor politician and Shadow Minister for Justice the Hon David Feeney MP has called for stricter gun laws that would affect hundreds of thousands of Australian licensed, law-abiding shooters, despite evidence that banning firearms does not keep firearms out of criminal hands, in an attack on new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
In his September 17 press release, Mr Feeney – who is the Member for Batman in Victoria, the Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence, the Shadow Minister for Veterans Affairs and the Shadow Minister for the Centenary of Anzac – warned Prime Minister Turnbull not to “undermine Australia’s tough gun laws” and to uphold former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard’s legacy.
He said Mr Turnbull should abandon former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s deal with NSW Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm, which will see the overturning of the temporary ban on the Adler lever-action shotgun next year.
“In one of his first acts as new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull must ensure that no handshake deals, as previously done by Tony Abbott, will affect the community and result in an erosion of our gun laws,” he said.
Malcolm Turnbull should listen to the words of his political hero, John Howard concerning Australia’s tough laws for gun control: “It’s something we got right and I think we should keep it that way.”
Tony Abbott couldn’t get it right, but Malcolm Turnbull can, and put Australia’s safety before politics. Malcolm Turnbull must commit to abandoning Abbott’s dirty deal today.”
As Australia’s largest sports shooting organisation, we resent Mr Feeney’s attempts to use law-abiding firearms owners as a tool to attack new Prime Minister Turnbull. And we again encourage our lawmakers to focus on legislation surrounding the criminal misuse of firearms, rather than attempting to implement further restrictions on the legitimate recreations of licensed, law-abiding firearm owners.