The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Inc. announced today that it welcomed retiring Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer's candid statement that handgun related crime was linked to ethnically-based drug gangs.
SSAA spokesperson, Mr Roy Smith said “Commissioner Palmer's comments reinforce what the SSAA has been saying for years – legitimate shooters are not the problem when it comes to crime.”
Mr Smith went on to claim that a recent Australian Institute of Criminology report noted that licensed shooters and registered firearms were responsible for less than 10% of gun related offenses in Australia – “The AIC's figures show that penalizing law-abiding gun owners with draconian legislation has no tangible effect on violent crime. What is needed are strategies that address the problem of the drug trade and the gangs that emerge as a result.”
Mr Smith said that recent calls by the anti-gun lobby for a ban on semi-automatic pistols in New South Wales were short-sighted and would prove as ineffective as British laws which have seen a steep increase in gun related crime despite the outlawing of private handgun ownership.