Secure Your Gun, Secure Your Sport is both a firearms safety campaign and publication promoted by the SSAA. The campaign has its roots from as early as 1999 when we encouraged SSAA clubs to focus on safe firearm storage by providing each club with a Secure Your Gun, Secure Your Sport poster for prominent display at their ranges.
In 2003, we released our Secure Your Gun, Secure Your Sport brochure, which explained the definitions and capacity requirements for Category A, B, C, D and H firearms, provided contact details for each state and territory firearms registry and highlighted a variety of safes that members could purchase for their security needs. We continue to update and regularly distribute this brochure to our members, as well as our State and Territory Branches.
Furthering our aim to create greater awareness among our members and the shooting fraternity about secure firearms storage, in late 2008 we coordinated with the firearms industry and developed a National Gun Safe Voucher program. This provided firearm owners with access to discounted storage facilities for their firearms, with SSAA National offering members discounts up to $100 to purchase police-approved safes. The program was highly commended by the then Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Brendan O’Connor in 2009, and was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Australian Institute of Criminology in its 2011 annual Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards.
More broadly, the SSAA regularly conducts safety seminars and practical instructions for the safe handling of firearms, and engages with youth groups such as the Scouts and Cadets to promote the safe, fun and all-abilities nature of sports shooting to interested juniors.